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IgcatJj^s JPebagoQtcal CiirarB — 10 

SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 



a agistors atttJ Criticism 



PRINCIPLES, METHODS, ORGANIZATION, AND 

MORAL DISCIPLINE ADVOCATED BY 

EMINENT EDUCATIONISTS. 



BY 



JOHN GILL, 

u 
Professor op Education, Normal College, Cheltenham, 
England. Author of " Introductory Text-Book 
to School Education," etc. 



BOSTON : 
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. 
1903. 



V^0^ 



PREFACE 

TO 

FOURTEENTH EDITION. 

The Notes to the present Edition have been revised 
throughout, and a few passages unnoticed in former 
editions have been explained. The references to 
Keightley's Mythology have been replaced by short 
notes, -which will be found to contain what is necessary 
for the understanding of the text. Where more 
information is required, the Classical Dictionary may 
be consulted. 

I ^^ IS-/ 



PREFACE. 



In the year 1852, the Syllabus for Students in Training 
Colleges, issued by the Committee of Council on Educa- 
tion, required that they should be instructed in the Sys- 
temfj of Education that had been in use in this country. 
It thus became the Author's duty, in that and following 
years, to explore the field, and to give lectures in the 
course thus opened out to hira. Gradually his course 
shaped itself into the form in which it is presented in 
this volume. At the request of the Bishop of Tasmania, 
then Principal of the Training Colleges, Cheltenham, 
some of these lectures appeared at intervals in the Papers 
for the Schoolmaster. The whole course is now oflFered 
in a more permanent form, at the request of many of 
the Author's former pupils. But another consideration 
has had weight. School Education has to become a 
Science. One means to this end is to gather and examine 
what has been done by those who have been engaged 
therein, and whose position or success has given them a 
right to be heard. Nor these alone. Others have been 
employed, if not in it, yet about it. School education, 
at its present standpoint, is the result of many agencies. 



IV PREFACE. 

individual, social, and national, and these have been very 
varied, and often antagonistic. It has been a growth, to 
which the philosopher, the politician, the doctrinaire, and 
the amateur have contributed, as well as the actual 
workers in schools. With these — excluding those whose 
object has been mercenary — it has been a course of 
efforts, schemes, mistakes, and failures, but sometimes of 
partial successes, all of which have yielded something to 
the fabric as it now stands. The Author's hope is that 
the sketch here feebly attempted may stimulate those 
just starting in their profession, ever to work with the 
purpose of ultimately placing their art on a scientific basis. 

One word as to the form. In few cases are the words 
of the educational writers or workers used. Having but 
a very limited time, not one hour weekly, in which to 
present the salient points of each system, he found he 
could better do this, without quotation. But he has 
never consciously altered or coloured any one's views. 
In this plan he was confirmed by finding how successfully 
it had been followed in the Schoolmaster , published by 
the Society for the Difi'usion of Useful Knowledge ; to 
which book and to its other publications, the writer 
gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness. 

February 28, 1876. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Grammar Schools. 

Pioneers — English taught in schools — John Comewaile — In- 
crease of schools — Influence of Chaucer — Eevival of learn- 
ing — Colet — "Wolsey's instructions to masters — First Eng- 
lish grammar. 

Egger Ascham — His education — Origin of the Schoolmaster — 
Discipline in relation to learning — Marks of a good 
scholar — Chiding — Correction of mistakes — Corporal 
punishment — Quick and hard wits — Competent teachers — 
Learning to be intelligent — Thoroughness — Examples he- 
fore rales — Nothing to unlearn. 

CoMENiTJS — Monitorial principle — Intuitive faculties — Pictorial 
teaching — Picturing-out. 

John Milton — Spirit of the educator — Influence on the nation's 
life — No formal routine — Pestalozzian principle antici- 
pated — Baconian method. — Course of study — Motives to be 
employed. 

John Locke — Incidents in life — Physical education — Moral 
culture — Its Place in a system of education — Its natare — 
Necessity of knowing childhood— Difierence in children — • 
Early impressions — M eans of moral training — Authority — 
Shame — Opposed to corporal punishment — Obstinacy— Re- 
wards — Natural consequences — Skilful teaching — Learning 
made pleasant — Saturday Review quoted — Pleasant books — ■ 
Method of penmanship —Grammar — Composition — French. 

ViCESiMus Knox — Opposed to Locke — Advantages of classical 
culture — Bias of scholar — Easy methods suspicious — Cul- 
ture of memory — Early reading — Latin basis of school 
discipline — Greek and French — English composition— Geo- 
graphy. ... .Pp. 1—47 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER II. 
The Common School. 

Edoeworths — Influence of their writings — Kindergarten anti. 
cipated — ^Early learning — Objections to alphabetic teach, 
ing — Phonic method suggested — Spelling should follow 
reading — Arithmetic by objects — Power of attention — 
Short lessons — When to end teaching — Connection in 
teaching — Difficulty of language — Personal motive — 
Selection of books — History, how taught — Place of poetry 
— Moral discipline — Natural consequences — Submission — 
Commands and prohibitions. 

Pestalozzi — Incidents in life — Boobs on education — Become 
a schoolmaster — Qualification — Experiments and failures — 
Leading principles — Opposed to common practices — So- 
cratic development — Was the old method utterly bad ? — 
Ideas before words— Child an active agent — Object lessons 
— Simple to complex — Graduation of exercises— Harmonious 
development — Absurdities in his practices — Moral and reli- 
gious training — How develop religious feeling. 

Pp. 48—76 

CHAPTER III. 

Infants' Schools. 

Oberlin — School at Lanark — School at Westminster. 

WiLDERSPiN — The gaudy cap and its lesson — Qualifications for 
his work — His enthusiasm — His enterprise — Principles — 
Follow nature — Physical culture — Characteristics of child- 
hood — Moral education — Moral truths and principles — 
Moral constitution — Playground — Cultivation of intelli- 
gence — The Senses — How to think rather than what — • 
Object lessons — Lessons in number — Ball frame — 
Pictures. 

Mayos — Expounders of Pestalozzianism — Pestalozzian prin- 
ciples — Education should be religious — Should be moral — 
Should be organic — Action parent of power — Liberty — 
Harmonious development — Progressive. 

Home and Colonial School Society — Primary object in 
infant culture — Infants' schools are too often hot- beds — 
Aim of this Society — Huge gallery banished — Sectional 



CONTENTS. "^^ 

division of school-Development and intuition-Hand 
head and heart-Eeligious training-Its m6de-¥irst ideas 
of God— Graduated instruction— Scripture prints— Moral 
culture-Based on religious truth-Springs of action- 
Systematic culture of the feelings-Conscience-Trammg 
rather than teaching-Power of example-School discip- 
Hne-Authority-Punishments-Treatment of obstinate 
children-Eewards and praise-Cultivation of mtelhgence 
—The senses— Object lessons— Lessons on animais— 
Colour and form— Size and weight— Number. 
KiNDEHGAKTEN SYSTEM-Frobel-Observcs _ chndren-Their 
characteristics - Gifts - Forms - Inventions- Activity- 
Taste— Number— Reading. . . -PP- 7t)— Ibi 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Elementary School. 
Db. Andrew BELL-Origin of monitorial system-Province of 
the school-Religion and morality-Relation to future 
callings-Attention and exertion-Means of securing- 
Home exercises-Principles and methods- Something to do 
—Definite and thorough work— Repetition— Reading— 
Writing— Organization of school— Subordinate officers- 
Large classes— Arrangements of room-School keeping— 
Supervision-Paidometer-Discipline-Prevention better 
than cure— Personal improvement— Emulation— Place- 
taking— Treatment of offences— Punishment- objections 
to corporal punishment. ^ _ 

Joseph Lancaster— Devotedness to education-Moral training 
based on religious instruction— Periods of school life- 
Graduation of lessons-Reading-Arithmetic-Organization 
distinct classes for arithmetic— classes and drafts— Teach- 
ing staff— DiscipUne— Influence of master— PubHc opinion 
in school— Fellenberg's practice— Offices of trust- 
Training of the will — Emotions of self-love of distinc- 
tion—Class emulation. 
iN'riiLLECTUAL SYSTEM-Culture of intelligence- Knowledge of 
chHd mind-No royal road to learning- QuaHfications of 



VUl CONTENTS. 

teachers— Disciplined mind— Apt to teach- Methods— 
Interrogation— Explanation — Exposition of reading lesson. 

StoVs Tkaining System — Origin and progress — Infant school 
— David Caughie — Establishment of first normal college 
training and teaching — Function of the school — Eeligious 
and moral training— Bible lessons — Telling not training — 
Currie on doing— Locke on training— Action teaches— 
Condition of moral training — Knowledge of aptitudes — 
Development of tastes — Freedom from restraint — Fear 
prevents confidence — Temptations not removed — Uncovered 
school room— Moral review — Sympathy of numbers — 
Public opinion — Long on school opinion — Reid on school 
boy's infiuence — Currie on sympathy of numbers — Intel- 
lectual culture — Leading principle — Master to teach — 
Necessity of learning — Nothing told that can be discovered 
— Understanding, then memory — Not reasons for every- 
thing — Logical faculty — Outlines first — Picturing out — 
Words — Scenes — Bible lessons — Training out — Mistakes 
and absurdities — Induction — Collective lessons. 

Pp. 162—262 
CHAPTER V. 
Amateurs and Helpers. 

Present interest in education— Brougham's efforts — Central 
Society. 

Thomas "Wyse — Knowledge of mind — Education must be reli- 
gious that it may be moral — How teach the Bible— Intel- 
ligent training — The senses first — All the faculties — 
Method should be eclectic. 

Horace Grant — Interest in education — Special qualifications — 
Inductive labour — Principles — Saturday Review on arithmetic. 

Education Department — Shuttleworth — Principles of method 
— Pound's Battersea college — Professor Moseley — Religious 
training — Moral discipline — Training of teachers — Oral 
lessons — Tripartite organization — Grade schools — Tremen- 
heere — Oral lessons — Education of the whole natiu-e — Know- 
ledge of mind — Poetry— Reading lesson. . Pp. 263—304 



8Y8TEM8 OF EDUCATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

Grammar Schools. 

Section J. — Fioneers. 

The reign of Edward III. witnessed, after a struggle of 
three centuries, the triumph of English in the 
schools, as well as in social life and the courts of law. 
Schools had been chiefly those connected with cathedrals 
and monasteries, some of the latter class having been 
founded before the Conquest. These were intended 
chiefly for the training of ecclesiastics. But there 
were other than these, found in towns and Tillages, 
which were open to the laity. Of these were those 
held probably in the chamber over the porch of the 
church, parvise. The serjeant in the Canterbury Tales 
had been at parvise. In these schools Latin and 
French were taught, and were the medium through 
which other things were acquired. John Cornewaile 
appears to have been the first to break through custom 
and prejudice, by introducing into the school the 
reading of the mother tongue. It spread, ?o that in 
the course of a generation "In all the grammai 
schools of England children learneth French and con- 



2 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

strueth and learneth in English." The Visions and 
Creed of Piers Ploughman (Langlande), the tracts and 
Bible of Wycliffe, and the burst of song in Chaucer 
came to stimulate and reward this movement. Other 
schools under private persons, that is, not connected 
with the religious houses sprang up, due greatly to 
Wycliffe and those who abetted him. The movement 
was countenanced by Wykeham, to whom it has been 
attributed, that his school at Winchester was designed 
to rescue the early training of youth from the hands of 
the monks. The increase of these schools seems to 
have alarmed the ecclesiastical bodiea. They opposing 
Lollardry, obtained a law making it illegal to send 
children for tuition to private persons. But the impetus 
had been given, and though for a century after Chaucer 
no great English writer appeared, yet it is evident 
that the learning of English spread more and more, 
until literature was no longer the possession of a class, 
but had begun to be the heritage of the people. This 
is shown by the literature in demand ; compendiums 
of the scientific and historic knowledge of the day ; the 
common-place dramas, mysteries, and poems, and the 
rhyming chronicles. It is also shown by the extent 
of the demand. It was beyond precedent, so that few 
occupations were so thriving as the scriveners. It is 
also shown in the demand of some of the clergy of 
London in 1477, for leave to open schools in their re- 
spective churches. But the strongest proof of all is in 
the success that attended William Caxton, and his 
noble efforts, by translation and printing, to meet the 
ever increasing demand. 
The revival of learning in Florence, due greatly to 



PIONEEKS. 6 

the Greek scholars, who had fled there, on the taking 
of Constantinople by the Turks ; and due also to the 
influence of the Medici ; and the spread of this revival 
in Europe was another element in the upward move- 
ment. Grocyn, Linacre, and somewhat later Colet, 
having studied in Florence, returned to kindle the fire 
in Oxford, and to adopt means to promote the new 
learning. 

The reformation, in one of its phases a collateral 
result of the revival of learning, brought into the 
homes of the people the light of sacred truth, with its 
necessary result, intellectual awakening ; and placed 
within their reach the Bible in English. 

It was a necessary consequence of the revival of 
learning that schools and colleges increased. During 
the latter years of Henry VIII. more grammar schools 
were founded than during the three preceding centuries. 
In the reign of Edward and Elizabeth the good work 
went on, until a system of schools was established for 
the middle-classes, which bore noble fruit in the next 
generations. It was natural that this revival and 
progress should draw attention to school methods and 
practices, which should issue in efforts for their im- 
provement. Dean Colet led the way in both move- 
ments, by the establishment of his school at St. Paul's, 
placing it under the charge of Lilly, and by reforming 
the matter of study and the mode of instruction. 
Fifteen years later, Wolsey wrote to the masters of the 
school he had founded at Ipswich a letter of instruc- 
tion as to the methods to be pursued, gathered probably 
from the writings of Erasmus, and the practice on the 
Continent. The main points of this letter, separatee^ 



4 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

from the detail of daily work in each class are, to be 
careful in first teaching, to suit the matter to the 
capacity, not to force to learning by blows or harsh 
threats, to make learning a game rather than a task, 
to explain, illustrate and arrange, to commend, and 
to exact correctness in speech at play as well as in 
school. 

But this revival was not confined to classical learn- 
ing. In the reign of Elizabeth, there burst into leaf, 
the tree of English literature, with a vigour, a life, and 
a growth, which have never since departed from it. 
With this there came the demand for such culture in 
schools, as would put this literature into the hands of 
England's children. The first attempt was the humble 
unpretentious English Grammar, of the head master of 
St. Paul's school, Alexamier Gill. 

Section II. — Roger Ascham. 

Eoger Ascham may be considered the father of 
school method. For though his *'Scholemaster " deals 
necessarily with classical learning, yet it contains 
jDrinciples which are applicable to all school subjects. 
His book was not that of an amateur, but of one who 
had, for the age, fair experience and success in the 
work of tuition. Born in 1515, he entered, at the age 
of fifteen, St. John's College, Cambridge, just when 
the Greek revival under Cheke was drawing many to 
that University. Ascham's progress was rapid, and 
the bent of his mind was shown by his teaching, while 
yet a boy, other boys the Greek he had so quickly 
acquired, with the design too of facilitating his own 



ROGER ASCHAM. 5 

acquisition and use of it. He became early distinguished 
as a scholar, obtained his bachelor's degree at the age 
of nineteen, and was elected a Fellow of his College a 
month later. He employed himself as tutor and 
lecturer, and many of his scholars afterwards rose to 
great distinction. Ascham was not only proficient in 
classical learning, he had skill in music, and was one 
of the few that excelled in penmanship. This in- 
fluenced his fortunes. About 1544, he was appointed 
by Henry VIII. to teach penmanship to Edward and 
Elizabeth, and somewhat later he became Greek tutor 
to that princess. Subsequently he was Latin secretary 
to Edward VI., an office which was continued to him 
by the good offices of Gardiner under Mary, and which 
he retained under Elizabeth. With this queen he also 
read classics daily, until his death in 1568. 

The origin of Ascham's book gives the key to its 
matter. In 1563, Sir William Cecil tells in Ascham's 
presence of boys that had run away from Eton for 
fear of a beating. He also expressed an opinion that 
masters often punish nature rather than the fault of 
the scholar ; and drove from learning those they had 
in charge. This gave rise to a discussion, whether 
learning was better promoted by love alluring, or beat- 
ing driving to it. Ascham expressed himself against 
punishments, and in favour of methods that would 
render punishment unnecessary. His work is in two 
books. Book I. — " Teaching the bringing up of 
Youth." Book 11. — "The ready way to the Latin 
tongue. The former book, to which we confine our- 
selves, treats of discipline and method. 

Ascham is at pains to distinguish between the dis- 



6 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

cipline whicli is to promote progress in learning witli tlie 
love of it, and the discipline which has to form the 
manners, root out vice, and promote growth in virtue. 
In this latter sphere, he thinks there may be reasonable 
severity, but he thinks that such discipline does not 
belong to the schoolmaster. This opinion has not 
altogether died out, there being schools now, where 
masters think their only responsibility rests in their 
pupils' progress in learning. Still, even in Ascham's 
day, there were those who held that the school had a 
higher function in education. " In such places," he 
urges, " the discipline to promote learning should not 
be of the same kind as that which has to form the 
character and reform the manners." Eeferring to the 
discipline amongst the Ancients he observes: — "The 
schoolmaster taught him learning with all gentleness ; 
the governor corrected his manners with much sharp- 
ness, the father held the stern of his whole obedience. 
And so he that used to teach did not commonly use 
to beat, but remitted that over to another man's charge. 
But what shall we say, wlien now in our days the 
schoolmaster is used both for preceptor in learning, 
and pcedagogus in manners? Surely, I would he 
should not confound their offices, but discreetly use 
the duty of both, so that neither ill touches should be 
left unpunished, nor gentleness in teaching anywise 
omitted. And he shall well do both, if wisely he do 
appoint diversity of time, and separate place for either 
purpose." Here is a very important distinction shadowed 
forth, involving a very great principle, and indicating a 
noble practice. Nothing should be done in discipline 
that will tend to confound moral distinctions in the 



ROGER ASCHAM. 7 

mind of the young ; or, that will make them think that 
a false quantity is on the same footing as a lie. This 
distinction too is important, when weighing arguments 
on corporal punishment ; for it must be evident that 
such as may establish the propriety, expediency, or 
necessity of it in the one case, may be utterly worthless 
in the other. 

Quoting from Plato the marks of a good scholar in 
the judgment of Socrates, he sets forth these as the 
objects of discipline. Secure to him a good " memory, 
quick to receive, sure to keep, and ready to deliver ; 
a love of learning ; a desire to labour ; a will to take 
pains ; willingness to be taught by any one ; and not to 
be ashamed to ask questions." 

To attain these objects, " never chide liastilij." Look 
well to your ground and consider what will be its 
effect on the pupil. " Hasty chiding dulls the wit 
and discourages diligence." '* Why are you angry, sirl 
Indeed I am doing as well as I can," — was a reply 
that elicited from Arnold, *' I was never so ashamed in 
my life." " Monish gently.'^ Faults have to be 
pointed out, but it should be in a way *' that shall 
make him both willing to amend, and glad to go for- 
ward in love and hope of learning." Hence monition 
should be mixed wibh encouragement. Love is a better 
spur than fear, gentleness is better than bullying, soft 
words are better than stinging ones. *' For whatsoever 
the mind doth learn unwillingly from fear, the same it 
doth gladly forget without care." In further illustration 
he compares children learning to ride, and learning 
their book. " Schoolmasters by fear do beat into them 
the hatred of learning ; and wise riders, by gentle allure- 



8 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

ments, do breed up in tliem the love of riding. They 
find fear and bondage in schools, they feel liberty and 
freedom in stables." Meeting an obvious objection 
that riding is a pastime and therefore easy to children, 
while learning is labour and wearisome, he rejoins, 
**Beat a child if he dance not well, and cherish him 
though he learn not well, ye shall have him unwilling 
to go to dance, and glad to go to his book," for " the 
mind of a child is like the newest wax, able to receive 
the best and fairest printing," hence a child's likings 
or dislikings are due to his educators. 

Correction of mistakes or faults should not degrade^ 
nor discourage, but stimulate. In doing this necessary 
work, there must not be a frown, nor the fault put 
down to wilfulness. *' Cicero would have used such a 
word, or put it in such a place." Here he exhibits 
knowledge of human nature. An illustration is at 
hand in the "Daily J^ews" of the autumn of 1872. 
Its correspondent attended the field manoeuvres of the 
English army, and a few days later he was performing 
a similar duty with the German army in the neighbour- 
hood of Berlin. ** If an officer in the former case made 
a mistake he was soundly rated in the presence of the 
staff; but ia the case of the German, the General said 
< Had I been charged with such a movement, I would 
have conducted it so and so.' Here the self respect of 
the officer was considered, who, beside, would on a 
similar occasion try to do the thing as his distinguished 
general would have done it.'* 

Beating should never he employed to promote learning. 
Generally it breaks rather than bends, mars rather than 
mends. It tends to associate such disagreeable things 



ROGER ASCHAM. 9 

with learaing as to make children detest, rather than 
love it, drive from it, rather than allure to it. It often 
leads to tyranny. Beaters often allow ill humour at 
other things to find vent on the pupil. Indulging the 
practice of inflicting pain for faults not of a moral 
nature, has a tendency to harden the master, and to 
Tender him insensible to the claims of justice. It is 
often unjust. As Cecil said, it more frequently punishes 
nature than corrects faults ; for the slow, and dull, 
and heavy get the heating, while the quick and easy 
getters obtain the praise. Pain is thus inflicted for 
natural qualities, instead of being reserved for moral 
offences. 

There should he discrimination hetween quick and 
hard wits. Quick wits are apt to take, unapt to keep, 
easily got and quickly gone, soon hot and soon cold- 
They are like sharp-edged tools, which enter easily but 
do not penetrate to a great depth, because their edges 
are soon turned. Hence few quick wits are -ever pro- 
found ; but exception is to be made here for the excel- 
lently gifted. But as a matter of fact, the quick at 
school seldom turn out well as men ; they live p'bscurely 
and die unknown. The remedy is a judicious system 
of repetition which will make their learning thorough. 
Hard wits are the hope of the school, and ultimately 
do society and the commonwealth most service. Here 
is encouragement. Hard wits are those who find it hard 
to learn, and who fire hard to teach. He compares them 
to hard woods and hard stones in the hands of the 
engraver and. sculptor. The tool makes scarcely any 
impression ; it requires much toil and much skill to 
trace a line or to chisel a feature, but the wo>'k is 



10 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

lasting. Lapse of time and tlie action of the elements 
destroy it not. It realizes " I work for eternity." Now 
your hard wits are just such. Hard to get, hard to 
lose, sure to keep. He compares them also to tools 
which enter with difficulty, but penetrate deeply. 
Here is probably the reason of their slowness, they are 
not satisfied like the quick with being superficial. 
They are not like the butterfly, here and there, but 
like the bee, staying at a flower till it has gathered all 
it contains. 

The principles for conducting instruction found in 
Ascham are few but pregnant. His first care would 
be to provide a competent instructor. Eut, alas ! 
" men look for a cunning man for their horse, but not 
for their children." They show this in the salaries 
they give. *'Two hundred crowns to the one, two 
hundred shillings to the other." They reap accordingly 
— "tame, well-ordered horses, wild children. They 
get more pleasure from their horses than comfort from 
their children." 

Ascham requires that the master shall teach as well 
as the pupil learn, and in order thereto. The pupil 
should understand. The master is to spare no pains 
to make him carry away the sense. He requires as a 
test and as a means that the child shall do by himself 
what he had before done with his tutor. It is only 
through teaching that learning is profitable. " Learn- 
ing without teaching makes lubbers, — always learning, 
never profiting." He draws a comparison between 
what children learn from books, and what they obtain 
by the use of their senses and by experience. The 
one is practical and valuable, the other stale and 



ROGER ASCHAM. 11 

profitless. Learning without intelligence is simply, 
" on the tongue and lip, to be spit out when occasion 
needeth ; that which is understood ascends to the brain, 
is assimilated, and becomes fruitful." 

Learning must be thorough as well as intelligent. 
These things satisfy the mind of the pupil and clear 
his path. *' They give pleasure to children, pleasure 
excites love, love provokes labour, and labour effects 
its purpose." Thoroughness requires that there should 
be order in his work and repetition. *' Let the master 
read unto him the Epistles of Cicero. First let him 
teach the child cheerfully and plainly the cause and 
matter of the letter; then let him construe it into 
English so oft as the child may easily carry away the 
understanding of it; lastly, parse it over perfectly. 
This done thus, let the child by and by both construe 
and parse it over again, so that it may appear that the 
child doubteth in nothing that his master taught him 
before. After this the child must take a paper book, 
and sitting in some place where no man shall prompt 
him, by himself, let him translate into English his 
former lesson. Then, showing it to his master, let the 
master take from him his Latin book, and pausing an 
hour at least, then let the child translate his own 
English into Latin again in another paper book. The 
master must compare it with Tully's book, and lay 
them both together." 

In order to thoroughness and subsequent progress, 
there should be cultivation at first only of a small 
area. He recommends that a good but easy and short 
book should be selected, and this so completely worked 
and mastered as to be equally at command with the 



12 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

mother tongue. This advice, necessary then, is ten- 
fold more so now. How wide the area of human 
research at present ! How vast the domain of knowledge 
already won ! How persistent the devotee to each 
special subject, that his shall enter into the curriculum 
of the school ! How dogmatic the doctrinaire, that 
the subjects in school shall be many, and that their 
limits shall not be circumscribed ! And with what 
results ? Let the disclosures in connection with the 
Civil Service examinations, and the system of enfeebling 
cram, give the reply. No ! the hint of Ascham should 
be the rule in school — " a small area well cultivated." 
This only will give thorough knowledge, strength of 
mind, and sound education. 

" Heedful mending of faults " is necessary both to 
intelligence and thoroughness. Correction of mis- 
takes is oftentimes the best instruction. We get a 
clearer insight. " A child learns more from two faults 
than from four things rightly hit." 

Examples before rules, and rules deduced from 
examples, are two important principles which are in- 
dicated by Ascham. Speaking of Latin, he would have 
the learner become familiar with the language, and fpr 
himself discover its syntax, rather than the common 
practice of giving him the rule and leaving him to 
apply it. These two invaluable principles are but now 
bearing fruit in school matters, so persistent is bad 
method, and so difficult to overcome the inertia that 
prevents thought. But our author has no sympathy 
with idleness, nor with any master who adopts what 
seems the easier method of tasks, instead of one that 
makes constant demand on his own mental power. 



COMENIUS. 13 

The practice of a boy "being set to do things at such 
a time, or in such a way, that he learns many things 
that he has afterwards to unlearn, comes under animad- 
version. Thus are often produced faults that no later 
care can cure. His instance is taken from setting hoys 
to Latin composition before they had sufficient know- 
ledge and skill in the language. The rule condemns 
the too frequent practice of giving for correction false 
syntax, false speech, and false spelling ; and the per- 
mitting of practices in learning, and in reading, writing, 
and arithmetic, which afterwards prove hindrances to 
progress. 

Section III. — Comenius. — Milton. 

John Amos Comenius was born at Comna in 1592. 
His parents were Moravians, and he himself became a 
pastor in that community. Forced by the burning of 
Fulneck, in the religious war, to leave that town, he 
became rector of a school at Lesna, in Poland. Here 
he began his career as an educational reformer. In 
1631 he published his " Janua Linguarum," and other 
works followed. Of these the "Janua" and the 
" Orbis " were translated into most European and into 
some of the Oriental languages. Having thus become 
known he was sought for by several Governments to 
put their systems of public instruction on a better 
basis. Eor this purpose he was invited to England, 
and remained here from 1638 to 1642, when the cut- 
break of the civil war caused him to leave. In 1638 
he published in London an edition of his " Janua 
Linguarum," in Latin, English, and French,— "The Gate 



14 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

of Tongues Unlocked and Opened." In this and his 
other books there are many valuable suggestions for 
the improvements of method of instruction. 

Acting on the hint of Quintilian, that the new 
learner is the best teacher, he employed pupils to in- 
struct less advanced pupils, thus anticipating, as had 
been done with Ascham at Cambridge, the monitorial 
plan of mutual instruction. His " Gate of Tongues " 
and his " Orbis " unfold a plan of aiding the acquisi- 
tion of languages by calling into exercise the percep- 
tive and intuitive faculties. For this purpose he would 
have the matter of the lessons such as would address 
itself to the senses, or would be easily understood ; as 
natural history, trades and professions, and science. 
He also introduced pictorial illustration into his books 
and teaching. This practice instantly became popular; 
Dr. Doddridge informing us that it was the common 
method in his childhood, for mothers thus to teach 
their little ones. A still further advance is the re- 
commendation, when things and pictures fail, to em- 
ploy graphic description, or " picturing out." It is 
curious to note the use by Comenius, of a term, for the 
supposed invention of which Stow received some hard 
criticism. 

It is evident that these practices of Comenius con- 
tain the germs of things afterwards associated with the 
names of Pestalozzi and Stow. It also may be safely 
assumed that many methods that are now in extensive 
use, were then not unknown to earnest teachers, for it 
is hard to believe that any one ever was a real teacher 
who did not employ rational methods. 

John Milton was induced by a friend to write a 



MILTON. 15 

small tract on what he calls " one of the greatest and 
noblest designs, the reforming of education." This 
tract appeared a few years subsequently to the depar- 
ture of Comenius, to whom the author evidently refers, 
when, not denying his obligations to the Ancients, he 
asserts no inclination to search " Modern Janaas and 
Didactics," Milton's scheme was not that of a mere 
theorist, but of one who himself had been engaged in 
tuition. His own education had been carefully con- 
ducted, being already an accomplished scholar, when, 
at the age of fifteen, he entered St. Paul's School. 

The opening proposition, whether intended so by 
Milton or not, admirably sets forth the spirit in which 
the work of education should be carried on. " The only 
purpose which should act as a motive in the pursuit of 
any object worthy to be remembered or imitated is the 
love of God and of mankind ! " This excludes mercenary 
motives. l>rot that a man should not be paid for his 
labours, and that in proportion to its value to the 
commonwealth, and to the skill and ability it requires ; 
but to attain the highest results in education, results 
not to be appraised by a money value, a man must be 
animated by a far higher consideration than the amount 
of money it secures. 

Living in stirring times, in which many were making 
sacrifices for the public good, Milton is influenced 
thereby, and contends that education should produce 
well-informed citizens, and good members of the state. 
This is one great aspect of the teacher's work. He is 
advancing the nation's knowledge, and he is influencing 
the nation's life. What the intellect and moral life of 
the people of the future will be, will always depend on 



16 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

the work in the schoolroom. There is laid either the 
" Seed corn of a harvest, or the powder train of a mine." 
But a yet higher purpose is to animate the scliool- 
master — Human nature is in ruins, and we ought to 
seek its repair. This can be done " only by knowledge 
of God, love to God, and hence imitation of God, until 
we become like God." 

We gather that Milton attaches no value to a formal 
routine of lessons, but requires a system of teaching 
that would arouse thought as well as exercise memory. 
This is the constant cry of the educational reformer. 
Eorsake your mechanical drill, your setting of tasks, 
your burdens on memory, and give us work that will 
produce thinkers. In order to this the relation of 
language to culture should be understood. Things are 
to be known rather than words or rules", and the 
knowledge of words is best obtained through the 
knowledge of things. Here the Pestalozzian principle 
is anticipated, and also the application of it. "Cer- 
tain things can be made known only by the sensible 
and visible. They cannot be presented at all but by 
concrete examples. Such are divine things. To re- 
present the divine to us, human imagery is- employed." 
But the same thing is true of many subjects, and thus 
" the same method is to be followed in all discreet 
teaching." Language not only embodies things, but 
also records for us the experience and traditions of 
other people and of other times. It is therefore an 
instrument conveying to us things useful to be known. 
Hence it becomes an instrument of culture, but it fails 
in this office, unless the things contained in it become 
the property of the mind. Language is the great 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 17 

store house of the treasures of the past, but if it is only a 
verbal possession, it is like a storehouse the inlets to 
which have been closed up. Hence though a man 
know all the tongues that Babel cleft the world into, 
yet if he have not studied the solid things in them, he 
is not learned. 

Milton is quite Baconian in protesting against begin- 
ning where the true philosopher ends. True method 
is to begin with objects of sense, and to gather facts. 
He is strongly urgent that early instruction should be- 
gin with things that are easy, and that are obvious to 
the sense ; and that it should be real and thorough. 
The result of the opposite plan is pernicious to the 
individual and to society. The picture is very start- 
ling. Disgust with learning, and with its babblement 
is of course. Nothing being ever clearly understood, 
there is no real knowledge, and the whole thing is con- 
sciously to the scholars a deception and a sham. Thus 
by being taught at school to appear to know, and to 
speak as if his knowledge was real, when he is con- 
scious that it is not, he is trained in the habit of un- 
truth. The result is that truth is absent from life, 
from society, and that there is no profession in which 
is to be found, truth, virtue, or a high aim. So that 
it is found that in all affairs of life persons are actuated 
by mercenary considerations, or they give themselves 
up to a loose and voluptuous career. 

His scheme embraces the education of the boy and 
youth up to the age of twenty-one, and includes manly 
exercises and accomplishments. The earlier course 
should include good interesting books, that will allure 
to study, win to thought, and incite to virtue. Arith- 




18 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

metic and geometry should come in every day. The 
evening should be given to the grounds of religion and 
the study of Scripture. But nothing should be exacted 
beyond the power of the pupil, such as " the prepos- 
terous exaction of forcing the empty wits of children 
to compose themes and essays " on subjects which only 
those of enriched minds and ripe judgments can at- 
tempt. He also lays down the rule that as learners 
advance, they ought often to retrace their steps, and 
work over again their earlier studies. The whole 
scheme of study embraced Latin and Greek authors, 
first pleasant as Plutarch, then useful as those on agri- 
culture and philosophy ; astronomy and geography ; 
architecture, fortification and engineering ; religion and 
ethics ; natural philosophy, natural history, botany, 
and anatomy ; jurisprudence, logic, and poetry. 

The motives that he would employ may be gathered 
from hints here and there in the tract. Learning 
should be made pleasant, by administering to faculties 
belonging to the period, and by furnishing delightful 
books. Careful instruction and explanation should be 
given on every opportunity, so that they may be d-rawn 
to willing obedience, and be inflanied with the love of 
learning. By mild and effectual persuasion with the 
mixture of some fear, if need be, they should be led 
to admire virtue, and they should be stirred up with 
high hopes of living so as to be dear to God, and 
famous to all ages. They should be taught to despise 
and scorn childish and ill-taught qualities, and they 
should be trained in such precepts and practice as will 
make them hate the cowardice of doing wrong. Finally 
example should gain them diligence and courage, and 



JOHN LOCKE. 19 

infuse into their young breasts such an ingenuous and 
noble ardour as would make many of them renowned 
and matchless men. 



iSedion IV. — John Locke. 

John Locke, " the lather of English philosophy/' 
was born at Wnngton in 1632. His early education 
was by his father, and was conducted with great care 
and success. But the troubles of the time, and his 
father serving in the Parliamentary army, broke up 
this arrangement, and he was placed at Westminster 
school. In the remembrance of his own early career 
we have probably the origin of his preference for 
private tuition over the public school. At the age of 
nineteen he proceeded to Christchurch, Oxford, where, 
in addition to the prescribed Aristotelian course, he 
solaced his philosophical spirit, by the private perusal 
of the works of Bacon and Descartes. The latter 
appears to have had no special influence over him, but 
from the former he obtained the method, which he 
subsequently applied to the investigation of mental 
phenomena. On leaving the university he adopted the 
profession of medicine, but his constitution was too 
weak to allow him to practise. In 1665, having suc- 
cessfully treated Lord Ashley, subsequently Earl of 
Shaftesbury, in case of an abscess, " he accepted the 
invitation of that nobleman to reside in his house ; 
and from this time he attached himself to his fortunes 
during his life, and after death vindicated his memory 
and honour." The studies of Lord Shaftesbury's son. 



20 SYSTEMS OF EDUCA.TION. 

and of his grandson, the author of the celebrated 
Characteristics, were under the direction of Locke. 

The *' Thoughts on Education " appeared in 1693, 
and reappeared invested with all the genius of Eousseau. 
in " Emile." Produced when the author was verging 
on sixty, for they were written several years before they 
were printed, they were the product of mature judg- 
ment, and of one whose professional studies, acquain- 
tance with mind, actual experience in the work of 
tuition, active but chequered career, and habits of 
mind well fitted him for the work he had undertaken. 
The peculiar style of the book, its discursive character, 
and want of system are due to the " Thoughts," having 
been originally written in a series of letters to a friend. 
The book was well receiv^ed, not only in his own 
country, but especially on the continent, being trans- 
lated into Grerman, Dutch and French; Leibnitz 
speaks highly in its praise, and at a later time, Rousseau 
embodied its teaching in his " Emile." Still, as it 
attacked vested interests, and advocated private tuition 
in preference to that of the school, and very consi- 
derably widened the sphere and altered the mode of 
culture, it was not universally'accepted, and in fact, is 
now in some places, for the first time bearing fruit. 
A century later, Vicescimus Knox, the veriest tory in 
school matters, says, " For the names and abilities of 
Milton, Locke, Eousseau, and of others who have 
written on education, I entertain all the respect which 
is due to them. Their systems are plausible, and truly 
ingenious. The world has long placed them high in 
the ranks of fame, and with respect to their general 
merit as writers, they indisputably deserve their 



JOHN LOCKE. 21 

honours. But, when they wrote on education, they 
fell into the common error of those who attend to 
speculation more than to practice. In the warmth of 
the innovating and reforming spirit, they censure 
modes of treatment which are right, they recommend 
methods which really cannot be reduced to practice, 
and which, if they could, would be useless or perni- 
cious. It is indeed easy to censure things already 
established, and project new institutions. The world 
is commonly tired of that to which it has been long 
accustomed, and fondly attached to novelty. It is, 
then, no wonder, that visionary writers on education 
are greatly admired, though their directions can seldom 
be closely pursued." 

Locke places the formation of character and manners 
above mere learning, hence he is urgent that the 
choice of a tutor is of the first moment. Consider his 
work. " It is to fashion the carriage and form the 
mind ; to settle in his pupils good habits, and the 
principles of virtue and wisdom ; to give him by little 
and little a view of mankind, and work him into a love 
and imitation of what is excellent and praiseworthy ; 
and in the prosecution of it to give him vigour, acti- 
vity, and industry." " Under whose care soever a 
child is put to be taught during the tender and flexible 
years of his life, this is certain, it should be one who 
thinks Latin and languages the least part of education ; 
one who, knowing how much virtue and a well tem- 
pered soul is to be preferred to any sort of learning or 
language, makes it his cliief business to form the mind 
of his scholars and give that a right disposition; 
"wrhich, if once got, though all the rest should be neg- 



22 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

lected, would in due time pro"duce all the rest; and 
which, if it be not got, and settled so as to keep out 
ill and vicious habits — languages and sciences, and all 
the other accomplishments of education, will be to no 
purpose, but to make the worse and more dangerous 
man." 

"Writing for home education, Locke gives directions 
for the care of the ease, as well as that which it con- 
tains, the mind. Mens sana in corpore sano was a 
maxim he could well appreciate. Physical education 
has in charge diet, clothing, sleep, exercise, fresh air 
and cleanliness. Some of these things are removed from 
the immediate influence of the elementary school. Yet 
the teacher may do much to diffuse right views and to 
secure right practice in regard to them. Combe, by his 
work on "Physiology applied to Health and Education," 
happily aroused public attention to this subject, and dfd 
much to promote it in schools. Instruction in physiology 
and the laws of health ; daily inspection and insisting 
on the pupil being clean in his person and clothes ; 
inquiries once or twice weekly as to washing the feet, 
sponging the body, followed by friction with a flesh 
brush or coarse towel; attention to ventilation and 
keeping the school room floor and walls scrupulously 
clean, and school drill and healthy games are now found 
in many of our schools. In one district, described at 
the time by one of Her Majesty's inspectors as "remote 
from civilisation, and marked by general indifference to 
education," the persistent efforts of a schoolmaster led 
to a general improvement, not only in the habits of his 
pupUs, but in many of their homes. 

It is not necessary to enter into detail, but the 



JOHN LOCKK. 23 

following things are noteworthy. The strength of the 
body lies in being able to endure hardship, hence their 
training should make children hardy. To this end 
they should not be pampered, nor should they be 
shielded from every risk, or a present security is 
obtained at the expense of danger from future ex- 
posure. Although his dictum about " leaking shoes " 
might seem to countenance it, yet of course he does not 
mean that children should be trained to fool-hardiness. 
The knowledge of the teacher should correct the inex- 
perience of the child, and should lead to interference 
whenever the necessity existed. As exercise, and es- 
pecially exercise in the open air, is essential to the 
strength and soundness of the body, all indications of 
a lazy or indolent disposition must be promptly treated. 
The child must be stimulated to use all its energies in 
play as well as work, and occasions must be provided 
for exercise whenever it is seen that there is a disin- 
clination to it. But the rule now to be given is unex- 
ceptionally sound. The course of treatment in all 
physical education should tend to form habits. Habits 
of body and habits of practice are the ends to be se- 
cured. If this be so, the withholding that which is 
usual, or its neglect, will be a source of discomfort or 
uneasiness. For instance, early hours of retiring and 
rising may by habit save from future excess. So habit 
may render physic unnecessary. In forming habit the 
treatment should not be fitful but periodic ; it should 
not be hap-hazard, but guided by rule and wise discre- 
tion ; and in the case of exercise it should be prolonged 
to the point of fatigue to secure the end in view. 

Locke places moral education in its right place. It 



24 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

should take precedence in mental culture. Moral good 
is not to be bargained away for any learning whatever. 
A great truth this which the educator is too apt to 
forget or neglect. It is so much easier to cultivate 
intelligence than to form a virtuous character, that 
this is too little attempted or not persistently. 

Of the nature of moral education Locke says, that its 
great aim is to secure to the child the complete sub- 
jection of his appetites and passions, his desires and 
inclinations to reason. In other words it is the con- 
quest of self. These are his words : — '* As the strength 
of the body lies chiefly in being able to endure hard- 
ships, so also does that of the mind. And the great 
principle and foundation of all virtue and worth lies in 
this, that a man is able to deny himself his own 
desires, cross his own inclinations, and purely follow 
what reason directs as best, though the appetite lean 
the other way." 

Let us understand his meaning here and we have the 
key to his system, the very pith and marrow of his 
teaching. When he says, strength of mind lies in the 
ability to endure hardships, he means that there is a 
temper of mind that scorns to be governed by pleasure 
or pain, and that will not allow the desires, inclinations, 
or passions to control the actions only so far as reason 
allows. He would have a Spartan's contempt of danger 
with his indifference to ease and comfort; a stoic's su- 
periority to the solicitations of pleasure or the infliction 
of pain ; and a Christian's obliteration of self from all 
his pursuits and a complete subjection of his body and 
mind to the highest reason. 

Such a course to be successful must be begun early. 



JOHN LOCKE. 25 

It must begin on the mother's lap, be continued in the 
nursery, followed when sitting at table, and must not 
be forgotten in the presence of visitors. But, alas ! 
early training raises barriers. Seeds are sown which, 
taking root, are never afterwards extirpated. In this 
early time there is too often the " positive teaching of 
vice." Children are taught to take childish revenge on 
anything that gives them pain, and are permitted and 
sometimes taught to strike those that have the charge 
of them. They are tricked out in finery, and are 
fondled for their pretty looks, and are accustomed to a 
mode of treatment that fixes their regards upon them- 
selves. They are taught by example to lie. Admira- 
tion is given for what at a later time would receive 
reproof. Instances of clever deceit, pert forwardness, 
and pretty wilfulness are recited with smiling approval 
in their presence. Love of eating and drinking is 
fostered by the obvious importance attached to it by 
their elders, and by " dainties " being proposed as 
rewards. On food the right maxim is, that food is 
given not because it is pleasant, but because it is neces- 
sary. Schoolmasters may think that on these points 
they are never likely to err. What then is to be said 
of the practice not uncommon of keeping a child from 
dinner because of ill conduct at school 1 Such a prac- 
tice elevates eating to a position it ought not to occupy. 
To punish a moral offence by depriving of food is to 
place tbe two things, moral duty and eating, on the 
same level. Not is it quite clear that schoolmasters 
are guiltless in other matters. How often do they 
allow in younger children what they would not in 
older ones ! Is this wise 1 People allow license for 



26 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

little improprieties, considering them harmless. Listen 
to Locke. The proportion of the fault to the age is 
the same, so that a little impropriety is as culpable in 
a child as a great fault in an older person. Also in- 
dulgence now will lead to expect similar indulgence at a 
later period of desires and passions no longer innocent. 
All this is culpable negligence of the mind and disposi- 
tion in the most impressible time, and may be con- 
trasted with the judicious management and elaborate 
attention bestowed on dogs and horses. 

To educate rightly it is necessary to study the child. 
Two distinct classes of mental faculties offer themselves 
to view, those common to all, those peculiar to the 
individual. Of the qualities indigenous to human 
nature it is necessary to glance at a few which have a 
legitimate sphere, but which uncultivated develop into 
weeds that become ineradicable from the character. 
Amongst others of this class are love of liberty, love of 
dominion, sense of property, and desire of possession. 
From these roots, unless tended with determined vigour, 
spring the weeds of license, selfishness, contention, ra- 
pacity, violence, tyranny, cruelty, and injustice. Ap- 
plying his great principle to these matters we have 
the rule that nothing is ever to be granted to a child's 
fancies, but only to his wants. That any fanciful or 
wilful preference of one thing to another must be 
treated as caprice, therefore not to be allowed, but 
rigorously withstood. He also contends that the earliest 
manifestations of violence, domineering, tyranny over 
lower animals, improper bearing towards inferiors, 
should be rigidly put down. He also gives us some 
practical rules of great value. Complaints of one 



JOHN LOCKE. 27 

against another should he discouraged, for sufferance 
without redress is better than an indulged sensitive- 
ness. If notice is taken of the case, and the aggressor 
is to he reprimanded, it had better not be in the pre- 
sence of him who complains. Still principles of jus- 
tice should be strenuously insisted on, hence all in- 
stances of real injustice should be noticed and rectified. 
However trifling the thing or worthless in itself the 
act of injustice is not trifling. Nay, nothing is trifling 
that helps to form the character, ^or is the morality 
of an action to be estimated by the inconvenience it 
may occasion, the loss inflicted, or the injury done. 
Eternal justice is equally violated whether a pin or a 
pound be stolen. It is necessary ever to discriminate 
between acts of ignorance and of a perverse will. 
More acts that are wrong in themselves proceed in 
children from the former than from the latter. The 
practice, for instance, of children pulling flies to pieces 
more frequently proceeds from ignorance than from 
wilful cruelty. The remedy would be to exhibit a fly 
and a maimed specimen through a microscope. When 
such acts do occur, when a wrong thing is first con- 
sciously done, it should be met with a show of wonder, 
as inconceivable. Proceeding on the same principle, 
children should not be informed of evil things. They 
should never be named in their presence. Evil should 
not be brought before their minds ; for talking of such 
things sets them thinking, and thus their minds become 
familiarized with things which otherwise might never 
enter. Never speak of evil till the necessity for it 
unfortunately exists. For a similar reason do not 
warn children against possible faults; a^d this for the 



28 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

further reason that such warning implies distrust, and 
distrust is a temptation to pride or bravado. Stimu- 
late children to that which is good and you will mora 
efifectually prevent the entrance of that which is evil. 

** The odour of the -wiae that first shall stain 
The virgin vessel, it "will long retain." 

That we may educate children aright we must study 
their peculiarities. Differences exist. There are dif- 
ferences of natural endowment, difference of tempera- 
ment, differences in inherited tendencies, differences in 
moral and emotional susceptibilities. " There will 
always be some predominant qualities, good or evil, 
and these will more or less for ever belong to him." 
By which is to be understood that he will ever have 
certain mental peculiarities that will distinguish him 
from others and inflaence all he is and does. This 
being the case it becomes the duty of the educator to 
observe and study the child, that he may know these 
peculiarities ; and that he may strengthen that which 
is weak, correct that which is wrong and rightly guide 
and improve all that is desirable and good. The 
peculiarities of children are best seen when they are 
least under restraint. Hence, in the matter of games, 
they should be allowed to indulge their fancy ; all 
should be free and unrestricted; for it is only by 
leaving him free in his recreations, that the child's 
particular bent is shown. " Such knowledge is neces- 
sary, for it is found that rules for education do not 
always serve because of these differences, as the same 
method of treatment is not always followed by the 
same result. It is also necessary that the right means 



JOHN LOCKE. 29 

may be adopted to mortify evil qualities, strengthen 
good ones, and so improve the general stock." 

The means of moral education have therefore to be 
wisely ordered. It is not by rules and precepts that 
moral intelligence is cultivated, or moral habits formed. 
" It is a great fault in education to burden children's 
minds with rules and precepts about their conduct, 
which are seldom understood, and therefore, soon for- 
gotten ; and it is still more unreasonable to visit with 
punishment the infraction of such rules." That chil- 
dren may know what is right you must teach by 
example. It is thus that the precept will have meaning 
and force. But they must also do what is right. To 
this end you must seize on every occasion that presents 
itself, and if necessary make occasion. The grand 
business is to form habits of right practice, and not to 
depend on the memory of a right precept. But habits 
cannot be formed only by patient and continued prac- 
tice, and there is absolutely no other road to morality 
and virtue. Laws then should be few and well 
observed. 

The first principle that should be implanted in the 
child's mind is submission to authority. This is what 
he means by awe of the parent. The parent is to the 
child in God's place, and his will is the sanction of its 
actions. He also holds that treatment in early life 
should be rigid. By this is not meant that it should 
be severe, but that it should not be lax. There is no 
hardship in this. A child finds hardship not in law 
but in laxity. The. laws of nature are not relaxed for 
childhood, and the child soon learns to accommodate 
itself to them. Principles should be rigidly carried 



30 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

out, else tlie educator is not a support to the child, 
when from its ignorance and weakness it needs it. 
But when childhood gives place to youth, and the 
reason and habit permit, then a rigid system is out of 
place. Then the time has come when the co-operation 
of the youth should be sought by treating him as a 
rational being. That which is required from him 
should be explained, so that he may be convinced that 
it is just and reasonable. The establishment of autho- 
rity early is the sarest way to obtain obedience, respect, 
and then love. This order cannot be reversed. It is 
impossible to lay a basis of love, and on it to build 
authority. It is an instinct to despise him who gives 
up his right to rule, and love cannot exist where there 
is not respect. 

How to establish authority and to secure right prac- 
tice introduces the question of motive, and conse- 
quently of punishment and reward. Pain, for the 
purpose of reform or to deter, is punishment. Pain is 
bodily or mental. The former includes corporal chas- 
tisement and all other modes of reaching the mind 
through the body. The latter includes reproof, rebuke, 
censure or anything else whose direct tendency is to 
produce shame. The object to be secured by punish- 
ment is an ingenuous shame for having done wrong. 
In the first instance this painful emotion arises from 
having forfeited the good opinion of another ; then it 
springs up with the consciousness of having done 
something which we know would forfeit such opinion ; 
but it finally comes for having done wrong. jN"ow such 
feeling is one of the strongest safeguards against evil 
courses. Hence it is the thing which we aim to secure. 



JOHN LOCKE. 31 

Rebuke, "having tliis end, is often an effective punish- 
ment. That it may be so, it must seem to proceed from 
a just displeasure. It must not be conveyed in harsh 
language, as this can scarcely ever do good, and must 
often do harm. It forfeits the child's respect, it forfeits 
his affection, and by frequency loses its power. It 
should never proceed from passion. In that case th« 
teacher places himself in a position of inferiority to the 
child and thus loses his influence and authority. 

In relation to corporal punishment, the thing to be 
remembered is, that it is the mind that has to be in- 
fluenced. Is it desirable to do this by bodily pain 1 
At the first blush it is seen that the motive is bad. 
It is an important aim in education to lead children 
to despise pain. It will be their inevitable lot to 
meet it in a variety of forms, and if they easily suc- 
cumb, their future life will be worthless to themselves 
and others. The motive too is often inoperative. It 
may be but a choice of pains, the drudgery of a task 
or the cut of the cane, and the lad may care less for 
the latter than the former. It may be inoperative 
because some other motive overpowers it, as bravado, 
or the consciousness of the sympathy of others. 
Bodily pain is made to appear the punishment, whereas 
shame at being whipped, or rather shame for needing 
punishment, is the feeling to be excited. It often 
tends too to prevent shame, or to destroy it, than which 
nothing worse could happen, for shame in children 
holds the same place as modesty in women, once gone 
aU other evils follow. Bodily pain never alters the 
natural inclinations, but tends to strengthen them. It 
hi a slavish discipline and produces a slavish temper, 



32 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

or, it breaks the mind and makes it cowardly and timid. 
There is one case in which Locke thinks it necessary — • 
obstinacy. " But be sure it is obstinacy." A recom- 
mendation on which the Brighton case, where a lad was 
flogged to death, throws light. In such a case as the 
appearance of obstinacy, there is probably a mistake. 
and even if there be a fit, if whipping " does no good 
it does great harm." Study the child's disposition, and 
weigh well the consequences, before resorting to this 
treatment. If one whipping does not improve the 
child, abstain from further infliction. There is one 
thing Locke recommends as the last resort, which might 
well be placed first, " pray for the child." 

Locke objects to rewards on similar grounds. They 
appeal to motives which it is desirable to repress and 
eradicate. How then is moral discipline to be promoted 1 
By children suffering the natural consequences of their 
actions. The desire of esteem is strong in them. They 
are very sensible of praise and commendation. They 
get their first notions of right and wrong from the 
manifestation of approval or disapproval by those 
about them. Heiice right doing is attended by an 
unbroken intercourse. Everything runs smoothly and 
pleasantly. But when wrong is done the carriage of 
those about him makes him sensible that a different 
state exists, there is a " change necessarily belonging 
to and constantly attending one who has brought him- 
self into a state of disgrace," and the child feels 
that he has fallen "into neglect and contempt." This 
mode of discipline commends itself as like that which we 
experience in the providential government of the world ; 
it commends itself also to the sense of justice inherent 



JOHN LOCKE. 33 

in the child ; and as it is of wide application, and tht-. 
occasions for acting on it occur continually, it is likely 
to form the child to the habit of acting constantly in 
reference to the consequence of its actions. Since 
Locke's time the principle has often been urged and 
illustrated, but perhaps never more prominently than 
by Herbert Spencer. 

Coming to learning, we find that Locke would have 
right methods and skilful teaching. Skill in teaching 
consists in getting and keeping the attention of the 
scholar ; whilst he has that he is sure to advance as 
far as the learner's abilities will carry him. His aim 
must be to create a love of learning. It will help to 
this if the bearing of the teacher is marked by sweet- 
ness and tenderness, showing that it proceeds from love 
to the child ; and as love begets love, the child will 
come to attend to that which gratifies his teacher. The 
usefulness of what he is taught should be made clear. 
He can do some things which he could not before, and 
thus he has real power and advantage over others who 
are ignorant. Advantage should be taken of the 
natural curiosity of children, which is an appetite for 
knowledge that should be carefully encouraged and 
kept active. Their inquiries should be listened to 
with patience and attention, and should be answered. 
Give them just what they wish to know, but no more 
than they can pleasantly receive. Their mistakes must 
not be laughed at. They should never be put off 
with evasive answers. In the case where the teacher 
cannot answer, the best way is to confess ignorance, or 
his present inability to reply. Children soon come to 
learn that no man can know everything, and they 



34 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

readily give their respect and confidence to liim who 
has the courage to avow ignorance. As children like 
novelty, and are unable from ])hysical causes to 
give attention long to one thing, there should be a 
variety of studies provided for them. This principle 
is sound, but was forgotten by Locke, when he recom- 
mended that writing should not be attempted till 
the child had learnt to read, and when he would with- 
hold arithmetic until this was fairly acquired. 

Locke urges that learning should be made pleasant 
to children, that it should at first be a play and recrea- 
tion. He shows his meaning by referring to learning 
the alphabet and words, by means of dice. "Wolsey 
expressed a similar wish. Is it legitimate? Speaking 
of Locke's plan of learning to read, Vicesimus Knox 
says " Eeading, if it was a game, was still such a game 
as the child liked less than his other diversions. It 
was, indeed, a game at what he would never play if he 
could help it. I am not quite sure that it is right to 
give him a notion that he has nothing to do but to 
play. Let him know that he has business of a serious 
kind, — we all come into the world to perform many 
duties, and to undergo many difficulties ; axid the 
earlier the mind learns to bear its portion of them, the 
less likely will it be to sink under those burdens which 
will one day be imposed upon it." Upon the general 
question, a writer in the Saturday Review^ has these 
remarks : — " Ought learning to be made as pleasant as 
possible ? If we could turn all study into play, would 
children be the better for it ? The answer is, that there 
are obvious limits to the process in the nature of things, 
There are some things in early training, which may 



JOHN LOCKE. 35 

be made a pleasant puzzle to the child, and may he ii.- 
vested with all the attractions of a game. But it is a 
process that does not really awaken the intellectual 
faculties, and if it is a common thing — common to 
make the learning depend on the process being pleasing 
or exciting — then those things which can offer no imme 
diate interest or pleasure, will be less attractive than 
before. I^ow in every conceivable branch of study, 
and after every possible inducement has been exhausted, 
there must remain a great mass of pure wearisome 
drudgery. In all literary pursuits after school 
life is over, there have to be often months of patient 
accumulation of dry material, before there can be any 
repaying work, and much of this is simply wasted 
labour, having no appreciable effect on the result. In 
active life the case is, if anything, stronger. Every 
lawyer or doctor has to plod through incalculable 
masses of dreary details, without the stimulant of intel- 
lectual interest. With the bulk of mankind dull 
drudgery is to be their lot during the greater part of 
their lives — hence since it has to come, the preparation 
for it should come too. And if so, ought it not to 
come early ? The answer is easy. If hard dull labour 
must come upon us, it must come ; but that is no 
reason for introducing it too soon. 

Let us look at the real nature of the process. A 
child must be induced to learn either by fear or by curi- 
osity ; we may awaken its intellect, or we may make it 
feel the dangers of idleness. The great obstacle to 
education is the simple dislike to all intellectual activity. 
An average lad resents any attempt to make him exert 
his intellect. If he is forced to learn some new lesson, 



36 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

and has his choice to learn it by rote, or made intelli- 
gible, ten to one but he will choose the mechanical 
method. Lads will learn if made to, but will not 
think if they can avoid it. You can force them to the 
brink; you cannot make them drink. Now the old 
method was powerless to deal with this state of things. 
The first requirement is to get some sort of intellectua' 
interest, and the only plan is to get the child to dis- 
cover by your method that there is real pleasure to be 
got out of in^llectual exercises. Every child finds 
pleasure in exercising his faculties on right objects. 
By right method this spark may be fanned into a flame, 
and it is of the highest importance that this should be 
done early. There is no risk that the notion of play 
will be thus associated with school work, for from the 
outset work will have to be encountered that cannot be 
deemed too easy. Allure then by right method every 
child into paths of study, and do what you can to help 
him on, over bhe ruggednesses that he must encounter, 
but never fear that he will not meet ere long the 
drudgery that is to fit him for the battle of life. The 
more he learns, the more drudgery he will have to 
undergo. Climbing mountains must always be hard 
work, if you climb far enough and fast enough, and 
the same is true of the hill of knowledge. You have 
no need to put burdens on the back, nor to drive up 
the steepest ascents ; there will be labour enough though 
the paths are zigzag, and the resting-places many." 

The subjects of instruction need not detain us long. 
He has left little on the method of teaching to read. 
He is of the same mind as Milton, and would provide 
pleasant books, as " ^sop's Fables," and would have 



JOHN LOCKE. 37 

them illustrated, because the child finds it difficult to 
realize the things mentioned, and pictures and objects 
convey ideas, and give the means of understanding the 
book. To add to its educative power, the child should, 
be encouraged and required to tell what it has rea^^. 
His method of penmanship is usually described as a 
method of tracing, and this doubtless is its charac- 
teristic feature. But he had a better appreciation of 
what is necessary to form a good penman than merely 
to teach the right formation of letters. " When the 
child comes to be entered on writing he should not be 
taught to hold his pen and shape his letters all at once, 
but the former part of the action should be perfected 
first. This done, the way to teach him to write with- 
out much trouble is to get a plate graven with the 
characters of such a hand as you like best. But you 
must remember to have them a pretty deal bigger than 
he should ordinarily write ; for every one naturally 
comes by degrees to write a less hand than he at first 
was taught, but never a bigger. Such a plate being 
graved let several sheets of paper be printed olf with 
red ink, which he has nothing to do but go over with 
a good pen filled with black ink, which will quickly 
bring his hand to the formation of those characters, 
being at first shown where to begin and how to form 
every letter. And when he can do that well, he must 
exercise on fair paper ; and so he may easily be brought 
to write the hand you desire." Here we find that 
Locke would have one thing mastered at a time, and 
each in its right place. The management of the pen 
first, the right formation of letters next, then freedom 
and character. He would also have the pupil instri'cted 



38 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

BO that his imitation might be intelligent. And he 
would only have mechanical aids so long as they were 
necessary to acquire form. 

Grammar and composition should go together. He 
does not notice the disciplinary power of the former, 
but simply regards it in relation to correct speech. He 
rightly attaches little influence to a mere knowledge of 
its rules. Correct speaking is a matter of practice, 
association, and habit. Hence the importance of com- 
position. This should first be oral. The pupil should 
read a tale, and then tell it. The next step is to write. 
This also after reading. The composition should be 
clear, succinct, and methodical. Then should come the 
writing of letters. 

He would have French early, because it is taught 
conversationally, and the organs being pliant, he gets 
the habit of speaking it properly, which the longer it is 
delayed, the harder it is to be done. Latin he thinks 
is not needed by a tradesman. It is a waste of time to 
spend it first on the grammar. It is utterly impossible 
to understand the grammar of a language that is un- 
known. Hence the language should be acquired before 
the grammar is touched. This should be done by con- 
versation and by interlinear translation. 

Section V. — Vicesimus Knox. 
Vicesimus Knox, master of Tunbridge school, was 
born in London in 1752. At the age of twenty- nine 
he published his book on " Liberal Education." It 
passed through numeious editions, and was held in 
much esteem by schoolmasters of his own class. It 
was a protest against innovations, and an exposition and 



VICESIMUS KNOX. 39 

defence of established practices. " Hitherto there had 
been many books on education, but as they were the 
works of speculative writers, they contained few valu- 
able directions to the practical instructor. They were 
full of innovations, where innovation should ever 
be regarded with suspicion. He was a practical man. 
His whole life had been spent in school as a learner, in 
college as a student, and again in school as a master ; 
hence he could speak from experience." He regrets the 
influence of Milton, Locke, and other speculative per- 
sons. To them was due the fact that many Adventure 
schools and academies had sprung up which had made 
a wide departure from the ancient system of education. 

His chief contention is in favour of classical learning, 
as opposed to physical, philosophical, and mathematical 
studies. Classical learning produces enlargement, re- 
finement, and embellishment of the mind. It qualifies 
for any particular profession or occupation. It is the 
best preparation for any employment above the low and 
mechanical. It opens sources of pleasure unknown to 
the vulgar. It gives an elevation of sentiment and 
nobility of nature. It only makes the true gentleman. 
He insinuates that those who oppose it are simply 
acting like the fox in the fable. He compares one with 
such training to a precious stone shining with its own 
lustre, while those without it have simply paint and 
garnish. 

When you ask how these advantages are secured by 
classical training, you find the reply uncertain. There 
is confusion of thought. He speaks of them as due to 
the well-regulated study of philosophy, poetry, and 
history, found in classical authors. But this study, ho 



40 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

says, is impracticable up to the age of nineteen, for all 
the attention is required by the languages, and is given 
to them. Yet all through his book he seems to transfer 
the advantages derived from the study of classical 
authors to the mode of learning the languages. And 
there is no doubt that it is this that he has in view 
when contending for classical instruction as the sole 
basis of mental discipline. He makes also important 
admissions. The time to be given to it must neces- 
sarily exclude from this course and its advantages all 
but the very few. He also admits that many have not 
realized the advantages, either because they lacked the 
parts, or were not sufficiently diligent, or were taken 
away too soon. But while he makes this admission he 
does not see its force. Few get the culture ; where one 
succeeds, thousands fail. But the question in education 
is not what is the best for the gifted, even allowing this 
to be the best, but what is best for the many 1 He gives 
elsewhere an admirable illustration of his contention 
that such discipline fits for every employment, by saying 
that teaching to read must be irksome to a man of cul- 
ture, and consequently must be ill performed ! 

There may be gathered from his book that certain 
principles should regulate school work. It is the func- 
tion of the school to prepare the mind for the future. 
This is to be done by opening out avenues of research 
and culture, but chiefly by strengthening its powers. A 
prime aim should be to give it vigour. It is necessary 
to hold this position. Masters are censured for not 
suiting their instruction to the bias of the scholar. 
They use the same material for all. This complaint is 
in ignorance, — masters cannot doit. The school has a 



VICESIMUS KNOX. 41 

regular plan of study, which it is impossible to vary 
for individuals. It is also a misconception. School 
has to give a general preparation, a discipline of the 
whole mind, not a special culture of dominant faculties. 
As a tradesman does not consider of every shilHng 
gained its purchasing power, but adds it to the general 
stock ; so a master has to consider the general power 
of the pupil, and not the special advantage of a par- 
ticular course. Hence it would be a mistake. For if 
any faculties are really strong they may be hopefully 
left, and the weak ones strengthened ; or the individual 
will be narrow-minded, dwarfed, and contracted. It is 
often impossible. Natural bias seldom shows itself in 
the school period. Mental tastes display themselves at 
different periods according to the varying constitutions. 
Often the nobler faculties, and those that give direction 
to the life, put in a late appearance. It should be 
deemed essential that all qualify themselves with habits 
of constancy, vigilance, and industry. Of none should 
there be despair except idiots. The difference between 
these opinions and those of Locke is rather apparent 
than real. There is, in fact, no contrariety. Knox 
refers to faculties of intelligence, while Locke deals with 
the emotional nature, and here it is certainly true — 

" The child is father to the man." 

The scholar must be accustomed to hard labour, and 
any method that proposes to make the road to learning 
easy must be regarded with suspicion. In early lessons 
the agreeable may be united with the useful, but the 
learner must not be cheated to his task by the notion 
that it is a game. He must early meet the fact that 



42 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

nothing valuable is to be obtained wit! i out labour. The 
mind is naturally indolent, averse from unnecessary toil, 
and rejoices in means that more easily accomplish its 
end. This is particularly true in the season Avhen 
school education begins. But in education nothing is 
valuable without labour. No high point of excellence 
is ever attained without arduous and persevering toil. 
That which requires great effort to gain will not be 
soon lost, for the impression it makes is deep. On the 
other hand, things easily obtained are readily lost, like 
money acquired at an easy rate. Ideas collected with- 
out effort make very faint impression. Hence it is no 
valid objection to a method that it requu'es effort, for 
labour strengthens the mind, increases its native vigour, 
and is favourable to the permanence of its acquisitions. 
But a method that proposes to lessen the labour must 
not lie lightly adopted, for generally, as you lessen the 
toil you decrease its value. 

These views do not sufficiently discriminate betwixt 
the periods of culture. In relation to the later stages 
of school work they may be regarded as sound, but 
during all the earlier stages, when the mind of the 
pupil is in direct contact with that of the master, and 
when its efforts are elicited, guided, and strengthened by 
such contact, all that can be done b}'" good method to 
remove difficulties, or to enable the pupil to overcome 
them, should be done. Procedure by a good method 
is simply working according to mental laws, and surely 
it is better that the pupil shall be rightly directed and 
aided, than that he should be left without rudder, chart, 
or compass, in a sea of troubles. And let it not be sup- 
posed that any such aid will make his path too easy. 



VICESIMUS KNOX. 43 

From its very nature there will remain not only enough 
of irksome drudgery, hut of matter that will require 
all his intelligence and power. 

There should he right culture of memory. It is 
strong in young children, and things may hy them he 
acquired with ease which would he an intolerable 
drudgery at a later time. Latin grammar, and other 
things that they cannot understand, should be exacted 
from them. For if these are not learnt early they will 
never be thoroughly acquired. Knox does not see that 
such a practice must place obstacles in the learner's 
path ; that it entails losses which are not covered by the 
gain. Such verbal use of the memory forms the habit of 
doing things without intelligent attention, than which 
nothing could be a greater hindrance to intellectual 
growth. In many cases it effectually bars all real 
progress, and where it does not it makes it greatly 
more difficult to acquire the power of intelligent appli- 
cation. 

No faculty of the mind being more capable of im- 
provement in youth, and none more in danger of de- 
cay by disease, care should be taken to store it well. If 
it is not filled with valuable furniture it will be crowded 
with lumber. It should be filled with choice pieces. 
Beautiful passages should be studiously committed to 
memory, or they will leave no more trace than the 
shadow of the summer cloud does on the landscape. 
Such passages should first be construed, then learnt by 
heart. Habit will render it easy. But the culture of 
the memory must be judicious. It is not the chief 
object in education. It is not to be loaded with unim- 
portant minutiae. It is of more importance to re- 



44 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

member an eloquent passage than its place on the page. 
It is more important to get the kernel than to retain 
the husk. "Whatever the mind receives, it should not 
only reproduce, but give it back altered, improved, and 
refined. " A good memory," says Erasmus, " is like a 
net that catches the great fishes, but lets the little ones 
escape." 

The only infallible way of improving the memory is 
frequent, regular, well-directed exercise. " The one 
great secret," says Quintilian, " for the improvement of 
memory is exercise, practice, labour. Nothing is so 
much improved by care, or falls to decay by neglect.** 
It must also be trusted. Like a generous friend it will 
repay habitual confidence with fidelity. It is not 
benefited by the practice of writing things to be re- 
membered. Quintilian tells us that to put things in 
writing is the surest way to lose them, for we cease 
to guard them ; and Plato says that the best way to 
keep them in memory is not to put them in writing. 

The subjects taught in school should not be too 
numerous. Art is long, life is short. Having many 
subjects, children come to be talkers in all, masters in 
none. Early discipline will mould the future. In- 
struction cannot commence too early, the time must be 
determined by the display of capacity, but as early as 
possible, for earliest impressions are durable, and time 
is saved. Knox thinks that little need to be feared 
as regards the health. The instruction should be judi- 
ciously conducted, and then the spirits and activity of 
children will supply the antidote to any otherwise 
injurious strain. 

Children should early learn to read. There is no 



VICESIMUS KNOX. 45 

reason wliy it should not be attained by five or six, or at 
furthest seven. The longer it is delayed, the more diffi- 
cult it is to acquire. Early inferiority in this is a bar 
to subsequent proficiency, while it is a fact that early 
readers make the best progress. For this acquisition 
the nursery is the place, and the teacher the mother. 
Thus the child may not have anything to unlearn. In 
teaching the alphabet he would have a plain card. 
One Avith cuts diverts the attention from the less 
interesting sign to the more amusing picture. Yet as 
it is a sufficiently irksome thing, he should be drawn 
on by interesting books, the understanding of which 
should be aided by pictures. But reading must not be 
the only source of knowledge to the infant, it is only 
one of several ways, and it is necessary there should be 
variety. It is essential, too, that the tasks should be 
short, — a little and with ease. The value is not in the 
gain from one lesson, but in the habit, the constant 
growth, and the accumulation of power. 

Latin should be the basis of school discipline. The 
grammar should first be acquired. This knowledge is 
like the broad foundations of a building, hidden indeed, 
but necessary to the stability of the superstructure. 
But Knox abandons the early mode, and advocates a 
compromise betwixt it and the principle advocated by 
Locke. To that principle he gives his unconscious 
adhesion. Let the grammar be the first course for six 
months, then let the learner parse and construe an 
easy Latin author. The knowledge thus acquired gives 
a better hold of the grammar. With the same purpose 
let all the rules be learnt in English as well as in 
Latin. And in first going over the grammar neglect 



40 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

its niinutiee, as the science of language is not the object, 
but the attainment of a language. This compromise 
between a valuable principle and an absurd practice is 
significant both of the force of truth and the tenacity 
of prejudice. That no one can study the grammar of 
a language he does not understand seems a self-evident 
proposition, and would recommend itself, one would 
think, to all but those who consult their own ease as 
masters of schools rather than teachers in them. That 
Knox advocated as far as he did the preposterous prac- 
tice of learning the grammar first, and then applying 
what was not understood to the parsing and construing 
of a book, seems to have come from that obliquity of 
vision which is produced by the prejudice of early 
custom. This compromise was the first step towards 
the system represented by the books of Peithman, 
Bryce, and Smith. 

Of other languages he recommends Greek and 
French. They are to be pursued by similar methods, 
but not at so early an age. He assigns as a reason for 
not beginning French early, that time is required to 
mature the mind as well as the body. But surely this 
objection has stronger force against the early learning of 
Latin. He thinks that if the learner knows Latin, he 
need not -begin with French grammar, but with an 
easy interesting book. Then the labour is alleviated ; 
but if confined to the grammar he hates the irksome toil. 
He prefers learning to read French rather than to speak 
it, unless there is the opportunity to reside in France. 

Other subjects should fill up gaps. English should 
be acquired through good authors. Its grammar may 
be delayed with advantage till the learner has Intel- 



VICESIMUS KNOX. 4? 

lectual stnaigth. A paper from tlie Spectator sliould 
be taken, and treated by parsing and analysis, as a 
Latin author would be. Aid should be had from com- 
position. At first ^sop, then history, Plutarch, and 
the Spectator should be read, and themes written on 
what had been thus prepared. Plagiarism should be 
discouraged. It may be prevented by avoiding cap- 
tious criticism and fault-finding, and by not punishing 
egregious mistakes. If the boy sees that his own 
composition is found fault with, while plagiarism es- 
capes, he will escape from the trouble of invention. 
Geography should not be learnt by rote. The first 
strokes that form the sketch of a picture cannot be 
pencilled too truthfully. In geography every idea 
should be presented clearly to the apprehension. The 
study should be begun early, but without books. Maps 
should be the only aids. These should not be too 
crowded, and should be very distinct. They should 
be explained, and they should be made familiar. They 
should be at hand for reference in other lessons. Map- 
drawing is a waste of time. History should be read at 
home as a recreation, not enter into the curriculum of the 
school. Euclid, astronomy, and physics belong to the 
university. Drawing should be taught only to such 
as are likely to excel in it. He who gives attention to 
arithmetic contracts a degree of rust totally destructive 
of genius. But Knox allows that as a science it fur- 
nishes a fine exercise for the mind. 

We gather incidentally that Knox would have eight 
classes or forms, a half-yearly examination for the ad- 
vancement of the proficient, and place-taking during 
She daily lessons as a spur to emulation. 



48 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Common School. 

The progress made in school education in this 
country during the present century has been very 
much promoted by the writings and labours of two 
men, very dissimilar in many respects, — Richard Lovell 
Edgeworth, born at Bath in 1744; and Henry Pes- 
talozzi, born at Zurich, January I2th, 1746. Their 
plans of education have the same starting-point, and 
their views coincide in many particulars. But the 
former not only placed his own aims clearly before his 
mind, but was skilful in carrying them out in his 
practice ; while Pestalozzi was more ingenious in stating 
and illustrating principles than apt in working them. 

Section I. — The Edgeworths. 

The work on *' Practical Education " was the joint 
production of Edgeworth and of his celebrated daughter, 
Maria. It fijst appeared in 1798. It describes the 
practices of the former in the education of his own 
family, and states the principles by which education 
should be conducted. The first chapter is on toys, and 
anticipates the kindergarten system. Toys that may 
be handled, and whose powers of amusing and profitably 
employing will not soon be lost, should be provided — 
as pieces of wood of various shapes and sizes, squares, 
circular bits, cubes, balls, and triangles. These will 
call forth observation, make them acquainted with the 
properties of objects, and stimulate invention, for the 
child will build up and pull down, and put into a 



THE EDGEWORTHS. 49 

variety of forms and positions. The point here is to 
leave the child, and not by rash interference to break 
the charm and destroy the utility, for the advantage is 
in the child doing, not in being told how to do. 
'* Every bit of wood," says Richter, " is a gilded flower- 
rod to the child, on which fancy can bud hundred- 
leaved roses. In the eyes of wonder-working fancy 
every Aaron's rod blossoms." Pictures may be early 
introduced. They engage attention and employ imagin- 
ation. They bring back former ideas, and lead to 
comparisons between these and what they see in prints ; 
they thus elicit judgments. That they may produce 
the best results in early infancy they must correspond 
to the experience of the child. Prints of a thing out 
of its sphere, or representing things as he is not accus- 
tomed to see them, seldom attract the attention or 
stimulate the fancy of a five-year-old child ; but 
truthful representations, agreeing with facts he may 
have observed, will set his imagination working. 
" The wind blows that woman's gown back," was the 
suggestion of such a print to a four-year old child. 
After having been accustomed to examine prints, and 
to trace their resemblance to real objects, children will 
probably wish to try their own powers of imitation. 
At this moment place , in their hands a pencil, and let 
them make random marks all over a sheet of paper. 
"No matter how rude their first attempts at imitation 
may be ; if the attention is occupied, the point is 
gained. Grirls have an advantage over boys in the 
exclusive possession of scissors, and are pleasurably 
and profitably occupied in cutting out wonderful 
camels, elephants, and other things. When the period 



50 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

comes, in wliicli the child wants more active employ- 
ment to his mind and fingers, he must be furnished 
with that which will give him the opportunity of 
thought and invention. It will be profitable now to 
introduce modelling in clay and wax, making baskets, 
and weaving tapes. Then as skill grows, and a greater 
demand is made on his inventive powers, there may be 
supplied to him cards, pasteboard, scissors, wire, gum, 
and wax, that he may fashion, model, construct, and 
build. In all this course the purpose is to secure 
observation, to stimulate invention, to foster fancy, and 
to cultivate practical judgment. The one great rule is 
to teach the child to work out the things in its own 
mind, and not to crush in the bud its nascent faculties 
by hasty interference. Help may be given, but it 
must be judiciously timed, and it must be of a kind to 
stimulate originality, and not make them mere copyists. 
Thus the elements of a scientific character are laid. 
The child learns the properties of things ; he becomes 
curious to know how certain effects are produced, de- 
stroying the toy in the prosecution of the philosophical 
inquiry ; he inquires, combines, and invents. Such a 
child shows the effect of his training by asking, among 
many similar inquiries, " How is it that my hoop keeps 
up so long as it rolls, but falls as soon as it stops 1 " 

The same principle that has guided the development 
of the mind should be followed in first learning. It is 
not verbal memory, but intelligence that should be 
cultivated. There must not be disagreeable associations 
with learning. It need not be treated as a game; but it 
should be made interesting by employing his faculties. 
Learning to read early is not a matter of such moment 



THE EDGEWORTHS. 51 

as some seem to think, for the use made of it is the 
important point ; and if it should "be so learnt as to dis- 
gust, and then be never used, where is the advantage of 
having learnt early 1 

The common method of teaching the alphabet is 
dreadful. The names of the letters and the variety of 
their sounds disturb the common sense of the child, 
and at every step stop his progress. He learns one 
thing in one lesson, and he finds it contradicted in the 
next. Having learnt «^ in " fume," he pronounces it the 
same way in "fun," and is blamed ; he meets it again in 
" busy," and is again at fault ; at *' burial" he gives up in 
despair, in "prudence" he becomes reckless, and he stops 
at the stage of " dunce. " In the reading lesson he is told 
to spell words by their names, but having done so 
through " Here is some apple pie," he finds that he 
cannot decipher for himself these simple words. 

A better method is needed. Do not be in a hurry, 
let a few things be learnt at a time. It does not matter 
whether it takes six weeks or six months, so that it is 
done well, and without confusion to the learner. Take 
the vowels first, distinguish their several sounds by 
points. For instance, let a represent the sound in 
fame ; a in fat ; a in fall ; a in far. When the vowel 
sounds and their signs are acquired, take the consonants, 
but do not give their names till the child has acquired 
their powers. This must be by analysis and induction. 
Place b and the other consonants before a, a, a, a, e, e, 
e, e, and so on ; let these syllables be pronounced, and 
let the learner from such practice get the powers of the 
consonants. When they have thus learnt the letters 



52 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

and their powers let them read. In the books put the 
marks indicating the various sounds, and others indi- 
cating the silent letters. 

This is a better plan of teaching the elements of 
reading, than the one it was intended to supersede. 
But it is needlessly complicated. It has the fault of 
all the earlier teaching, loading the memory with a 
large number of rules before supplying practice. Nor 
does it sufficiently recognise the truth underlying itself, 
that a child obtains the powers of the letters by an 
induction from its own practice — not a conscious induc- 
tion, but one that forms itself into its habits. Hence 
a plan that would secure a greater amount of reading, 
and one that would gradually introduce the varying 
vowel powers, would sooner effect the object. This is 
now attempted in several first reading books. Langler, 
of the Westminster Training College, was the first to 
introduce it. First we have a set of lessons in which 
the vowels and consonants have a constancy of power, 
as in bat, fat, mat ; bet, met, pet ; bit, fit, pit : then we 
have a set introducing another sound, as in mate, mete, 
mite, where the opportunity occurs of pointing out 
the significance of the final e. In this way the child 
gradually acquaints himself with the powers of the 
letters, and he approaches the anomalies without per- 
plexity. The " Phonic Method," as Edgeworth's plan 
came to be called, degenerated into an attempt to give 
the powers of the consonants by themselves, and to 
build up words by the process bu-a-te, bat. An in- 
stance this, not un frequent in schools, of a good prin- 
ciple becoming the ground of an absurd practice, 
because carried out by parties who had no special 



THE EDGEWORTHS. 53 

training for their work, and who had not taten the 
trouble, if they had the power, to master the principle. 

Spelling should follow reading. He seems here to 
abandon the practice of teaching to read by spelling, 
either name or phonic. He objects to spelling-books. 
They bring new perils to the understanding, and they 
disgust children with literature by the pain and diffi- 
culty of their first lessons. A better way is to use the 
words they know, and those which occur most frequently 
in reading and conversation. Of these a few should 
be taken at a time, on the maxim " a little and well." 
Let the children see that spelling is necessary in 
writing. Let them write a few words of their own 
daily, and others that they have been reading. When 
they see its use and feel its need, then they will learn 
with ease and precision. Spelling should not be taught 
before they can write. The mistakes they make in 
writing must be pointed out, and must be carefully 
corrected by the learner. This is necessary, as bad 
habits once formed cannot be cured, because the under- 
standing has nothing to do with the business. It must 
be remembered that spelling is learnt by the eye, hence 
the more they read and write, the greater their progress 
will be in spelling correctly. 

Arithmetic should be taught as soon as the child can 
read. This recommendation comes from Edge worth's 
unwillingness to burden the child with too many sub- 
jects. But there is no danger to the child in taking 
arithmetic as a parallel exercise with reading and 
writing. The faculties it brings into play are so distinct 
that relief and benefit follow rather than injury. 
Besides, it is well to accustom the learner early to seek 



54 SYSTEMS OE EDUCATION. 

relief in cTiange rather than, in cessation of work. His 
next recommendation shows how truly he was at one 
with Locke and Pestalozzi in the principles that should 
regulate first instruction. Early lessons in arithmetic 
should he conducted on the same principles as have 
hitherto guided us. Infancy is the season for culti- 
vating the senses,andhere we find one of the reasons for 
proceeding in this subject from the concrete to the 
abstract. This, too, should be the case not only in the 
earlier operations, but in every subsequent stage. The 
intelligence of the child must go along with every pro- 
cess, its understanding must be preserved from implicit 
belief, its powers must be invigorated, and it must be 
saved from merely technical working. 

The first thing is to combine numbers with real 
objects. The names of numbers must be connected in 
the mind with the groups they represent. He should 
learn these groups as two cubes, three cubes, and so on. 
He should see that three cubes are the same thing as 
two cubes and one cube. When he is able to distin- 
guish each group and name it, then he may be taught 
to know and make the figure that represents it. In this 
and subsequent operations it is well to use half-inch 
cubes or pebbles, so that the eye may easily take in the 
group. The next step is addition. This should be 
first by things, then by figures. First he must be kept 
to numbers below ten, and the operation both by things 
and figures should tend to make him still more familiar 
with the groups and their names. I'he exercises might 
be graduated in some such way as this : — 



THE EDGE WORTHS. 55 





1 


1 


1 






1 


1 


1 1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 1 


112 1 


1 


1 


1 2 3 


1 


2 1 


2 3 2 1 


2 


3 


4 2 2 



334444555555 

Before taking the next step means should be taken 
to make familiar all the possible combinations up to 
nine, to add and subtract with rapidity, and to write 
figures with accuracy and expedition. The process 
should employ the eye, ear, and mind, so that the 
technical habit may be acquired without injury to the 
understanding. These preliminary steps, if begun in 
the child's fifth year, may occupy a few minutes daily 
during half a year. 

The next step, numeration, is the most difficult in 
early arithmetic. It may be prepared for by drawing 
the child's attention to the common way of speaking 
of one flock, two flocks, one grove, two groves, when he 
feels no difficulty in applying the term one to a grouj) 
containing many. In the same way to speak of one 
dozen, two dozens, may prepare for one ten, two tens. 
Let dark pebbles be counted, and for each ten put aside 
one white pebble, then the white pebbles will each repre- 
sent ten, and when there are ten of these, let one red 
pebble be put aside, and the child may thus see how 
one may represent a hundred. By exercises like these 
the child may learn that the terms one, two, three, and 
so on, may be indifferently applied to individuals, tens, 
or hundreds. When this is all clear, the child will find 
no difficulty in understanding the value of written figures 
ly the place they hold ; indeed, he may be led to invent 



66 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

this arrangement. Having acquired tliis knowledge 
and skill, an idea of decimal arithmetic may be given, 
to him, as he will find no diflficulty now in understand- 
ing that the same figures may represent tenth parts as 
well as groups. 

In subtraction Edgeworth recommends that the 
methods employed shall grow out of their previous 
work. For instance, in taking forty-six from ninety- 
four, the child first sees that the sum forty-six is to be 
taken from the larger sum ninety-four ; then using his 
knowledge of numeration and notation, he is taught to 
analyze ninety-four into eighty and fourteen, then to 
take six from fourteen ; then four tens or forty from 
eight tens or eighty. He would have the same prin- 
ciple followed in other rules. In the rule of three, as 
the learner can already divide and multiply, instead of 
the method of statement, he should first be told to find 
the value of one, and then of the required quantities. 

Methods like these are usually spoken of as Pesta- 
lozzian, and their extensive use in common schools is 
due very much to Tate's " Principles of Arithmetic," but 
they may all be found in the works of Ward, a full 
century before Edgeworth ; where also may be found 
modes of teaching mensuration on similar principles. 

When we pass from the period in which the senses are 
the chief avenues of intelligence, to the cultivation of 
the understanding, the first object is to give the power 
of attention, or in other words, to interest the learners 
in what they are about. The means are now to be con- 
sidered. Eirst there must be no false associations. 
There should be a right medium betwixt offering the 
subjects as tasks, repelling the learner, and exciting his 



THE EDGEWOKTHS. 5*7 

disgust, and the fashion of making learning a play, 
cheating him into knowled ge, or paying for its acquisi- 
tion by sugar-plums. This plan increases the desire to 
be amused, but lessens the relish for it. The mind 
becomes passive and indolent, and an increasing 
stimulus is necessary to awaken effort. Dissipated 
habits are formed, and the pupil never gets command 
of his ovm powers. The pupil must understand that 
knowledge cannot be obtained without labour. He 
must be incited to work, and he must be in earnest. 
There must be no deceit practised on him. There must 
be no illusion. There is no need for any. It is easy 
by proper methods to interest him in the subjects he 
has to learn j the prime thing is to carry his intelligence 
with you. 

Edge worth continually insists that lessons should 
cover short periods, but that the learner shall be stimu- 
lated to put forth his utmost strength during that 
period. A serious and strong effort for half an hour 
will do more in forming the habit of attention than the 
practice of assigning work that will last for hours, and 
where the effort is necessarily of a dreamy kind. 
Thorough acquaintance with what he is taught is 
essential to present and future attention. The pupil 
should be presented with little at a time, but it should 
be completely attained. It should become familiar. 
Few things so disgust a child with learning as imper- 
fect acquaintance with it. Whenever that which he 
has acquired is perfectly familiar to his mind, the pupil 
is inspired with confidence and interest. He becomes 
conscious of power, and the tediousness of his employ- 
ment vanishes. Those who wish thus to succeed in 



5S SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

teaching must remember that a child can attend to but 
one thing at a time. Its attention must not be fatigued 
by variety. It is of more importance that a child 
should leave a lesson with a relish for learning, and a 
desire to return to it, than that it has made much 
progress. Let him find that he has made one thing 
fully his own, and his pleasure will stimulate him in 
other lessons. But while seeing that his acquisitions 
are thorough and familiar, the teacher must avoid the 
mistake of doing more than the child needs. When a 
thing is clear, let him not try to make it clearer. When 
a thing is understood, not a word more of exemplifica. 
tion should be added. To mark precisely the moment 
when the pupil is master of the subject, and when 
repetition should cease, is the most difficult thing in 
teaching, though the difficulty is in the teacher more 
than in the scholar. The former is so absorbed in his 
subject that he has no attention to give to the 
unmistakable signs of repletion given by the pupils. 
Thoroughness ajid familiarity may be promoted without 
this weariness, by asking in other lessons the reproduc- 
tion of former teaching. 

In instruction it is often found comparatively easy 
to fix the attention on the several points of a lesson, 
where there is utter failure in fixing it on the connec- 
tion of the parts. None but teachers know how 
difficult this is. The dependence of one thing upon 
another, and the concurrence of the whole to some 
definite conclusion, altogether escape the scholar. Yet 
this, if allowed to pass, will prove a hindrance to that 
completeness of attainment and its accompanying con- 
sciousness of power which make the child a voluntary 



THE EDGEWORTHS. 69 

worker. This, then, is an important point. The plea- 
sure of thinking, and much of the profit, must fre- 
quently depend on the learner preserving the connection 
of ideas. It is impossible to teach those who do not 
grasp each link and hold fast the whole chain of 
reasoning. This confessedly difficult business requires 
all the skill at the teacher's command. His steps must 
be short. He must remember the difference between 
his own capacity and that of his pupil. Things easy 
to him may test all the power of the child. He forgets 
how he learnt things that now seem to be received 
intuitively. The pupil's steps must not be hurried. 
Let there be time for each thing definitely to enter his 
mind. It is not speed, but complete attainment that is 
to be sought. Especially is it necessary that the pupil 
shall not be perplexed by talk, nor pressed too hastily 
to reply. Do not place a crowd of words between him 
and the end to which you are conducting him. 
Let him not be lost in a fog. Yet there must be 
judicious repetition. The reasoning must be repeated 
till the chain of ideas is completely formed. 

A great difficulty in teaching, in fixing attention, 
and securing thorough attainment, arises from language. 
This difficulty has several aspects. Often the pupils 
want words. They have ideas, and they have the 
power of expressing them ; but they are not connected 
in their minds with the words used by the teacher, 
hence there is no common ground on which they can 
meet. The language of the teacher awakens no cor- 
responding thought in the scholar, and his ignorance 
of their knowledge and language makes these of no 
avail for the elucidation of the subject in hand. This 



60 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

shows the necessity of adding to the child's knowledge 
of words as well as to his knowledge of things. This 
may be done in several ways: by examining objects 
and associating words and phrases with the ideas 
obtained ; by reading and by conversational lessons. 
Often when children begin to read they acquire a great 
variety of words. This is the source of a new danger. 
The learner speedily picks up a particular use of a 
word, and the teacher concludes that its whole meaning 
is laid bare to him. The duty thus becomes incumbent 
on the teacher to deal with new language. New words 
and phrases should never be passed without full ex- 
planation. This is absolutely necessary to the growth 
of the understanding, for if their knowledge of words 
is obscure, so will be their thoughts, and correct 
judgments and right reasoning will be impossible. 
The possession of words by children which have never 
been unfolded to them, and the employment of such 
words in lessons, are fruitful sources of inattention. 
The words are ever changing their meanings, to the 
great perplexity of the learner. Edgeworth illustrates 
the difficulty to the child by supposing it to be set to 
cast up a sum, the figures of which were being constantly 
changed by the teacher. The child will refuse his 
attention where the language is indefinite to him. He 
will make no efiPort when it is impossible for him to 
understand. All this shows how necessary it is for 
a teacher to be simple in his language, and to use it 
with precision. 

Among motives to attention the personal one must 
not be overlooked. There are some persons who have 
the power of exciting others to great mental exertions, 



THE EDGEWORTHS. 61 

hj the ardent ambition which they inspire, and by the 
value which is set upon their love and esteem. When 
once this generous desire of affection and esteem is 
raised in their minds, their exertions seem to be 
universal and spontaneous ; children are then no longer 
machines requiring to be regularly wound up, but they 
are animated by a living principle which directs all 
that it inspires. Edgeworth himself was an example 
of this with his own children ; and it was perhaps the 
one thing above all others that accounts for Pestalozzi's 
success. 

Great care should be taken in the selection of books, 
whether for reading or technical study. Bad books 
are very mischievous. Early reading books should 
have no narratives in which forms of vice, wrong 
doing, or faults are described. Such books often put 
evil into the minds of children which otherwise would 
not have entered. They should also be free from false 
sentiment, and from urging right actions by question- 
able motives. They should also be in good English. 
Erroneous modes of speech, though sanctioned by cus- 
tom, should be avoided. The practice of putting vulgar 
language into the mouths of the actors in the narrative, 
under pretence of being true to nature and to fact, 
cannot be too strongly condemned. Children do not 
appreciate the supposed humour, they are not competent 
to criticise, and they cannot but be injured by it. 
History is a very appropriate subject, but the books 
written for children are open to serious objections. It 
is not right to put opinions into children's heads. Care 
should be taken not to prejudice the mind. The 
characters that are drawn of historic personages, the 



62 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

moral reflections that are continually interspersed, the 
political doctrines that are expressed, are all out of 
place. Facts should be given as fully as may be, and 
the children left to form their own judgments. 

Poetry should not be given too early. Descriptive 
poetry is intelligible to young children, but it de- 
mands little effort of attention, and therefore should 
not form a part of their daily occupation. It should 
be read but occasionally. More difficult poetry must 
always be accompanied by questioning and explanation ; 
only thus can it be made profitable. When clearly 
comprehended it may be committed to memory. 
Grammar should not be begun too early. Eirst lessons 
should not deal with technical terms. Familiar explana- 
tions of the structure of simple sentences should be given. 
These should be accompanied by exercises, from which 
the children may discover for themselves the offices of 
words. From these to more complicated sentences, 
until they have a knowledge of rational grammar. 
Then they may begin the more technical study. 

The chapters in which the Edgeworths treat of moral 
discipline deserve the careful consideration of all 
teachers. Only one or two points are noticed here. 
The first notions of right and wrong which children 
get are from the expressions of pleasure or displeasure 
by their parents. They thus learn to associate pain 
with certain actions, and pleasure with others. In 
continuing their moral education the same principle 
should be recognised. The whole treatment of a child 
should lead him to associate certain experiences as the 
necessary consequences of his actions. This should be 
consistently acted upon until the association in his 



THE EDGEWORTHS. 63 

mind is indissoluble— that wrong actions bring painful 
results. In doing this the teacher will be aided by 
the way in which a child learns the qualities of external 
things, and by which its experiences fashion its con- 
duct. The child who puts its finger too near the fire 
and burns it, and who finds that the same eff'ect always 
foUows the same action, has learnt the lesson God in- 
tended. Punishments must be of the same character. 
They should appear as the natural consequences of the 
actions, and they should be of uniform occurrence. 
Punishments of an artificial character have no perma- 
nent effect, for they are perceived to have no natural 
connection with the offence, to depend on the will of 
the individual, to be fitful in their severity, and not 
certain in their action. It is uniformity of natural 
consequences that creates the impression of cause and 
effect. 

The child is placed in a relation in which its own 
will is to be formed by first submitting to the will of 
another. The principles that should guide in this are 
few. It is better to prevent than punish ; hence care 
must be taken to form the child to a habit of obedience. 
Let first commands be about things the child has 
pleasure in performing. An action which the child 
would do of itself is thus associated with obedience to 
a command. At a somewhat later stage depend rather 
on prohibitions. Here you can enforce your will, or 
you may prohibit actions, which if performed will 
bring slight pain. Then disobedience will convince 
the child that the prohibition was for its good. When 
commands are necessary, consider whether you can 
enforce them, for nothing should be done by you that 



64 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

would suggest or foster obstinacy. In early life reasons 
are out of place ; they cannot be understood ; hence 
implicit obedience must be exacted. But when children 
begin to reason, they do not act merely from habit ; 
and now, whenever we can use reason, we should never 
use force. 

Section II. — Pestalozzi and the Pestalozzian System. 

The term Pestalozzian is used to designate certain 
principles and methods that are employed, in this 
country, chiefly in infant culture. These principles 
and methods in their germ, along with much that was 
unsound and injurious, were found in the system of 
training established by Wilderspin. Their develop- 
ment and combination into — as far as it goes— a rational 
system of training is due to neither worker — but in 
other countries to Pestalozzi's fellow labourers, and in 
this country to the Mayos and to their co-workers. 
Eeserving* for another place the contributions of these 
to educational progress, w^ shall glance in this at the 
work of Pestalozzi himself. 

Pestalozzi was born at Zurich, January 12th, 1746. 
He had reached his thirtieth year, when the faihire of 
some speculations in which he had embarked at his 
place, Neuhof, ga,ve him the opportunity to attempt 
the accomplishment of a dream of his youth. He set 
himself vigorously to pursue the means of raising man 
morally, and of promoting thereby his comfort and 
happiness. Afflicted with the misery that he saw 
around him, and deeply pained at the moral depravity 
and great degradation of the people, he intently 



PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. C5 

revolved the problem of their recovery. His first 
notion was, that to elevate man morally he must be 
improved outwardly, his circumstances must be bettered, 
his social status raised. Entering enthusiastically into 
this view of the case, he spared neither himself nor 
his fortune. He opened at Neuhof an industrial school 
for poor children, an effort that was not altogether 
thrown away on them, as more than a hundred were 
reclaimed, but which was of more value to Pestalozzi 
himself. Convinced, by the excesses that accompanied 
and followed revolutionary action, of the fallacy of his 
previous opinion, he began to have a glimmering of the 
truth, that it is not the change in outward condition 
that brings happiness to a community, but the intel- 
lectual and moral improvement of the individual. 
Hence, it now became his aim to produce a condition 
in which the happiness of the man would not be affected 
from Avithout, because its source would be within, and 
to raise the moral condition of the community by an 
entirely new method of training the young. His 
opinions he embodied in various works, by which he 
sought at once to stimulate parents to educate their 
children, and to point out how it should be done. Of 
these amongst others may be named, " The Evening 
Hour with a Hermit," " Leonard and Gertrude," and 
'* How Gertrude teaches her Children." 

In 1798, at the age of 52, Pestalozzi became a school- 
master, and from this period until two years before 
his death in 1827, he gave himself up to the work he 
had chosen. His qualifications for this work consisted 
rather in a profound conviction that education was on 
a wrong basis, than in any special knowledge of what 

F 



66 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

it should he, or how it should be prosecuted. He was 
of opinion that to enkindle right affections, to substi- 
tute real knowledge for verbal forms, to develop mental 
power rather than to load the memory, and harmoniously 
to cultivate " the hand, the head, and the heart," should 
enter into a right system of education. But he had 
only vague conceptions on these points, and he certainly 
saw no clear way to their accomplishment. However, 
he brought to his work, earnestness, a loving spirit, a 
fair intellect, and a simplicity, which did not object to 
be instructed even by a child. Possessed of these he 
could not but feel his way to that which he sought. 

It could not but arise from this beginning, that he 
would fall into many errors, and that there would be 
contradictions betwixt his principles and practices. 
Besides, he lacked the power to place clearly before his 
mind his own purposes, and he also lacked the power 
to express that which obtained in his practice. Thus 
it happened, that his views were often vague, and his 
practices absurd, and things were advocated by him, or 
carried on under the sanction of his name, that were 
altogether anti-Pestalozzian. It does not fall within 
our purpose to follow him and his coadjutors in all 
their experiments, discussions, dissensions, failures, and 
successes, but rather, to give, as far as the confusion of 
statement admits, a succinct account of the principles 
and methods to which he gave his final adhesion. 

Clear insight into the nature of the things to bo 
acquired, rather than a verbal enunciation of a fact or 
a formula, is the leading principle of the Pestalozzian 
method. This he called intuition. The learner was to 
examine and compare things, and acquire ideas rather 



PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 67 

than signs, and this he was to do under direction rather 
than by instruction. His knowledge was to be real, 
made his own by examination with his senses. Clear- 
ness of perception was one thing sought, the doing it 
for himself the other. Both must go together ; for so 
far as the process of observation is interfered with by 
the oral communications of the teacher, so far will 
there be want of clearness in the result, and loss of 
power to the child ; but let the child exercise its senses 
— under direction — gradually on things, and its per- 
ceptions will be clear, its mind strengthened, and itself 
prepared for further acquisitions. 

In this principle, Pestalozzi struck at the root of the 
common practice. He found children's time at school 
spent on books, on verbal forms, on definitions, and in 
committing to memory that which they did not and 
could not understand. He saw that with the many, 
school- work was fruitless of results. The people grew 
up unintelligent, their minds burdened with verbal 
rubbish, and themselves none the better, but rather the 
worse for their school course. Certainly, some struggled 
through the form, and seized the spirit of what they 
acquired, but these were the few, the gifted, the minds 
that in any circumstances would have attained know- 
ledge and power. Pestalozzi aimed to do for the average 
intellect, what superior minds struggle to do of their own 
accord, or intuitively grasp. The common mind rested 
in the sign. Their stores were verbal. There was no 
life, no meaning, no thought. The mental current was 
not affected by anything they acquired. The daily flow 
of feeling and idea was governed entirely by the wants 
of the lower life. They never rose above this level. 



68 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Their minds had been weighed down at school, and 
never recovered their natural elasticity. 

All this Pestalozzi desired to change. By banishing 
books, by employing the senses, by developing — Socra- 
tically, but in a new form — ideas in the mind, by 
giving realities, by following nature, by exercising 
every faculty in a gradual and natural way, he hoped 
to give the child intelligence and power, and to habituate 
it to live in a higher sphere of thought and feeling than 
was hitherto possible. But his distaste to the common 
school course was carried to absurd lengths. Instead 
of retaining what was valuable, and rejecting what was 
bad, he aimed at something which should be entirely 
new. In fact, novelty seems to have had the charm 
for him that it has for the veriest child. He discredited 
everything that had on it the stamp of time and ex- 
perience. That which he sought was very well in its 
place. The knowledge acquired by the child would be 
real, but fragmentary, and this was as it should be. 
Eor infancy and childhood are storing times. Classi- 
fying, generalizing, and defining, are altogether unfitted 
to a state of mind in which the stores for such pro- 
cesses have not accumulated. But the very fact, that 
storing is the work of early life shows that it is but 
preparatory to something higher and better. Now the 
old school course was wrong, not in what it did, but in 
doing it out of place, and at the wrong time. Every- 
thing in its order would be a safer rule than that which 
would restrict a child to the mental operations con- 
nected with the senses, or that would give it verbal 
forms before the facts that underlie them. Pestalozzi, 
in dismissing books, was right for early childhood, but 



PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 69 

decidedly wrong for a later period. What in his prac- 
tice — supposing it to end there— could compensate for 
the loss of the discipline to he derived from the study 
of the past 1 For what is a book but the record of 
the working of another mind at a former period? 

And what can be substituted — at the proper time for 

the right use of books ? 

There is an objection often urged to the improved 
methods of training children practised by Pestalozzi, 
which has been partly anticipated, but which demands 
more distinct notice. The objector, instancing undoubted 
examples of progress and mental power under the 
former system, asks you to account for them if the 
method was so bad as is assumed. The answer is, 
either the superior quality of the mind saw that the 
sign was a sign, and hence looked for something more, 
and found it, or experience of life and intercourse with 
man gave the letter subsequently a power which it had 
not while being acquired. 

This point gained, that the child's instruction must 
be by things rather than by words, and that it must be 
engaged on realities rather than on signs, the next step 
was easy that the child should not simply be acted 
upon, but should be an agent in his own education. 
He must be made to examine, to compare, to reflect 
to think. His must be the examination of the objects 
brought before him, and his the expression of the ideas 
awakened in his mind ; the teacher's place being to 
guide by questions, and to correct false impressions and 
wrong answers in the same way. Whatever the thing 
on which the child's attention is occupied, this must 
be the mode. The thing on which it is engaged is 



70 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

comparatively of little importance, but the mode in 
which its attention is engaged is of essential moment. 
" There is not an object so trivial that in the hands of 
a skilful teacher might not become interesting, if not 
from its own nature, at least from the mode of treating 

it Any subject will do for the purpose. 

!N^ot only the little incidents in the life of a child, but 
everything within reach of its attention, whether it 
belong to nature or to the arts of life, might be the 
object of a lesson, by which the child might be 
familiarized with the habit of thinking on what he 
sees, and speaking after he has thought. The mode of 
doing this is not by any means to talk much to a child, 
but to enter into conversation with a child; not to 
address to him many words, however familiar or well 
chosen, but to bring him to express himself on the 
subject ; not to exhaust the subject, but to question 
the chUd about it, and to let him find out and correct 
the answers. The attention of a child is deadened by- 
long expositions, but roused by animated questions. 
Let these questions be short, clear, and intelligible. 
Let them not merely lead the child to repeat in the 
same, or in varied terms, what he has just heard before. 
Let them excite him to observe what is before him, to 
recollect what he has learned, and to muster his little 
stock of knowledge for materials for an answer. Show 
him a certain quality in one thing, and let him find 
out the same in others. Do this, and you teach him to 
observe, to think." 

That the ideas gathered may be clear, and the pro- 
cess invigorating, the course must be from the simple, 
or that which is easy and preparatory, to that which is 



PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZTAN SYSTEM. 71 

more complicated and diflScult. This course is to be 
pursued whether dealing with a single subject, or in 
the entire course of the child's training. For the 
latter the near and the familiar must be taken, and the 
circle gradually enlarged till it embraces the remote 
and strange ; for the former, that which is elementary 
and fundamental must be dealt with, and gradually 
added to, until the full idea or subject is built up in 
the mind. For instance, in connection with common 
objects a lesson might proceed after this fashion : — the 
object being placed before the child and distinguished, 
its name is given and repeated; then the parts are 
noticed and named ; then the form and size ; the 
colour ; the smoothness of the surface ; the hardness or 
softness; the sound when touched, and so on, are 
brought out from observation. Then other objects 
which resemble this in any of these qualities are exa- 
mined so as to bring out the greater or small degree 
thereof, and so on. Proceeding thus, there is a clear 
idea of the object developed in the child's mind, in a 
gradual and natural way, and besides, there is fostered 
an effort at observation, judgment, and expression, 
which, if pursued daily, could not but train the mind 
of the child in invaluable habits. 

Pestalozzi attached much importance to this way of 
engaging the child on what was simple first, and then 
proceeding in a gradual and natural manner to what 
was more complex. " Often," he says, " the supposed 
incorrigibly dull and slow were found to make rapid 
progress in the very things in which they had been 
pronounced incapable, when these were introduced to 
them in this simple and natural way." So that he 



72 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

thought it ill became any teacher to pronounce on the 
incapacity of any of his pupils, for it might be that he 
was rather declaring his own want of skill and method 
than the obtusoness of his pupil's intellect. 

Pestalozzi in pursuing a child's education would 
have such exercises employed as would be likely to fit 
the child for the use of all its faculties. He contends 
that early education should be general, not special ; 
and should concern itself with the harmonious de- 
velopment of the whole nature as far as that is possible 
in early life. Such also was the opinion of Locke, — 
" The business of education,. in respect of knowledge, 
is not to perfect the learner in all or any one of the 
sciences, but to give his mind that disposition and 
those habits that may enable him to attain any part of 
knowledge he shall stand in need of in the future 
course of his life." This consideration led Pestalozzi 
to seek for means to accomplish this purpose, and he 
found them, as he thought, on the side of the intellect, 
in number, form, and language. " These things, he 
says, not only elicit thought and train to think, but are 
the mediums through which all ideas come to us in 
later life." Now without accepting this in its entirety, 
it must be allowed that a rational course of training 
would embrace these things. For, apart from their 
entering into so many of our ideas, and apart therefore 
from their general educational value, they particularly 
recommend themselves for infant education, as their 
elementary parts admit of being presented to the senses, 
while there is also possible a gradual advance in them 
from the concrete to the abstract. Nor can it be said 
that Pestalozzi estimated too highly the advantages of 



PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 73 

his method when applied to these subjects. In the 
case of number, if things are presented to the child in 
groups, and the name attached to the group, there is 
an intelligence in the result which could not be if but 
the name was given. So with operations on numbers. 
Let these be performed before his eyes, or by himself 
with things, and there is a rational force in operation 
rather than a mechanical one ; and thus taught, the child 
is led, even in the most advanced stages, to realize to 
himself the conditions of the problems he works, and 
to gain his results by applying principles rather than 
rules. Such practice also gives him analytic power, ac- 
customs him to exact thinking, and leads him to seek 
for realities under the signs with which his mind works. 
In the case of form, such exercises as Pestalozzi intends, 
lead the child from the observation of lines and angles 
to discern at length forms and relations in surrounding 
things, which, but for these, would remain hidden from 
him. Eut a higher result is obtained, inventive skill, 
and a power of abstract conception, when the child is 
taught to produce, to combine, and to originate forms 
for himself. 

In the case of language it is not so clear what was 
Pestalozzi's notion, or what the special application of 
his method to it. Certainly his practice here, in some 
points, was as absurd as it could well be. What ad- 
vantage could arise from bawling at the extent of the 
voice unmeaning sounds like ba, ba, ba, la, la, la, or 
at a later stage all the technical terms belonging to 
some branch of science, does not appear. But perhaps 
the solution is in what has been adverted to before, 
that Pestalozzi often failed to put forth as well in 



74 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

practice as in language the conceptions to which, his 
mind gave birth. From some of his statements, and 
from some of his exercises, we may gather that it was 
his wish to enrich the mind of the child with language ; 
to place at its command a large store of words and their 
combinations, with a thorough intelligence of their 
meaning and use, and to give it great facility of ex- 
pression in speaking and composition. Such a design, 
well carried out, could not fail to be a valuable dis- 
cipline to the learner, and must fit him for a more 
intelligent and rapid progress in intellectual pursuits 
at a later time. Nor can it be a valid ground of ob- 
jection that in the early course of a child's education 
this should be done, as Pestalozzi proposed, by the 
living voice in free communication with the pupil 
rather than by the dead letter in books. The difficulty 
in Pestalozzi's practice must have been in getting the 
children to attach any meaning or take any interest in 
exercises which consisted chiefly of verbal repetition 
after the teacher. The oral lesson on objects and other 
things, referred to in a former paragraph, would have 
furnished the opportunity required. But Pestalozzi, 
run away with by the notion of treating everything 
from its elements, thought consistency required from 
him the construction of the series of lessons which he 
framed on language. 

There remains but one point necessary to notice in 
this brief sketch, but that is a most interesting one, — 
the application by Pestalozzi of his great principle in 
moral and religious training. Here, as in other things, 
he objects to words as the vehicle of moral and religious 
truth ; he requires facts, j^ot facts of a remote time 



PESTALOZZI AND THE PESTALOZZIAN SYSTEM. 75 

or place, "but facts occurring amongst themselves or in 
their neighbourhood. And he wants these, not to 
convey notions merely to their minds, but to lead them 
to act for others, or to avoid evil. He saw that moral 
and religious truth, however clearly conceived, if not 
acted out as occasions occurred, was not merely in- 
operative, but positively injurious. Hence he sought 
to awaken sympathy, and thence to lead to action. 
This led him also to notice the great difference in its 
influence on children between the act witnessed, or — 
where that was not possible — conceived, and the pre- 
cept stated. The latter, a nice jingle of words, is learnt, 
and in a few days forgotten, not having practically in- 
fluenced for a moment ; but the former conveys not 
only the truth, but exciting sympathy, gives it firm 
hold of the mind, and, if occasions are found of acting 
it out, fixes it as a living power in the life. 

To develop religious feeling in a child, it must be, 
he thought, excited in the first place towards parents 
and friends, in connection with every-day duties and 
relations, and then transferred at command to God. 
Here is one of his vague conceptions of a great truth. 
That the best way to convey to the mind of a child any 
notion of its relation to God, is through its knowledge 
of the relations that exist between its parents and 
itself is undoubtedly true, and so the best way to make 
apparent to a child the nature of the feelings which 
should exist towards God, is by exciting right feelings 
towards parents ; but that these can be transferred at 
command to God is utterly impossible. 



76 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

CHAPTER III. 
Infants' Schools. 

" Oberlin, the pastor of Walbacli, in Alsace, may "be 
regarded as the founder of infants' schools. Louise 
Scheppler, under his auspices, used to assemble the 
little children of his parish between the ages of two 
and six. Their object was to interest them by con- 
versation, pictures, and maps, and to teach them to 
read and sew." The first infants' school in Great 
Britain was established at Lanark. Its founder, Eobert 
Owen, gave the following account of its origin to a 
Committee of the House of Commons in 1816 : — 

"The children are received into a preparatory or 
training school at the age of three, in which they are 
perpetually superintended, to prevent them acquiring 
bad habits, to give them good ones, and to form their 
dispositions to ^mutual kindness and a sincere desire to 
contribute all in their power to benefit each other. 
These effects are chiefly accomplished by example and 
practice, precept being found of little use, and not 
comprehended by them at this early age. The children 
are taught also whatever may be supposed useful that 
they can understand, and this instruction is combined 
with as much amusement as is found to be requisite 
for their health, and to render them active, cheerful, 
and happy, fond of the school and of their instructors. 
. . . In this training school the children remain 
two or three years, according to their bodily strength 
and mental capacity. When they have attained as 
much strength and instruction as to enable them to 



WILDERSPIN. 77 

trnite, without creating confusion, with the youngest 
classes in the superior school, they are admitted into 
it. In this school they are taught to read, write, 
account, and the girls, in addition, to sew; but the 
leading object in this more advanced stage of their 
instruction is to form their habits and dispositions." 

The teacher of this first infants' school, Buchanan, 
was subsequently put in charge in 1819 of a similar 
school in Westminster by Brougham, Lansdowne, 
James Mill, Macaulay, and others. In 1820 another 
was opened in Spitalfields, of which Wilderspin took 
the charge, with whose name the methods and success 
of the earlier period of the movement are connected. 

Section I. — Wilderspin. 
Samuel Wilderspin was born in London. At the 
time of the experiment under Buchanan he was clerk 
at the New Jerusalem Church, Waterloo Road. The 
minister of this church, Mr. Goyder, introduced him 
to Buchanan, by whom he was induced to give himself 
to infant training. The opportunity offered in the 
school erected by Joseph Wilson in Quaker Street, 
Spitalfields, the charge of which was given to Wilderspin 
and his wife. They opened it on the 24th July, 1820, 
a memorable morning, when Wilderspin, at his wits' 
end, by exhibiting his wife's gaudily adorned cap at 
the end of a pole, succeeded in arresting the attention 
and reducing to quiet the screaming crowd that had 
hitherto bafiled all his efforts. This was the real 
beginning of the infants' school system. Not only is 
the very name due to Wilderspin, but it was his 
arduous and self-denying labours, his ingenuity, per- 



78 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

severance, and skill that gave it formand made it a 
power. 

When Wilderspin began his work he was literally 
without a plan, and almost without an aim. He had 
some vague notions of rescuing the little ones under 
his charge from the depraving influence of their daily 
associations, and of giving them a culture that should 
he beneficial to their future. But of plans he had 
none, of principles he had no knowledge, of what 
education really was or required he had no conception. 
His work was one of experiment. Many were his 
mistakes, many his failures. Much that was absurd 
or impossible to realize, or that was positively injurious, 
found a place at times in his school, and obtained his 
advocacy ; but he gradually hit upon valuable principles, 
and introduced practices that have maintained their 
ground to the present day. His success was such, that 
those statesmen and others to whom reference has 
already been made, having their attention drawn to it, 
conceived the plan of a society for the purpose of 
promoting the establishment of similar schools. Of 
that sanguine and enthusiastic temperament, so neces- 
sary to the pioneer in difficult enterprises, Wilderspin 
was eminently fitted for the work that now lay before 
him. During the next twenty years we find him 
travelling to every part of the British islands, lecturing, 
establishing schools, training their teachers, and con- 
ducting examinations, wherever his services were 
required, or where he thought an opening might be 
made. Besides this, he kept open a central school in 
Cheltenham, conducted when he himself was away by 
members of his family, or by his own trained agents. 



WILDERSPIN. 79 

This course of life not only added to his experience, 
but also brought him into contact with many earnest 
educationists, such as Stow, Simpson, Combe, and 
Close, and with many good practical teachers ; the 
result being an enlargement of his own views, and an 
occasional adoption of a principle or a method, without, 
it might be, the consciousnesss of his indebtedness. 
This explains, perhaps, his pertinacious and somewhat 
angry contention of later life, that things that were 
doubtless taken from others had their origin in his 
own experiments. In the brief sketch now to be given 
of his system, we neither propose to trace its growth, 
nor to separate what is properly his own from what he 
picked up from others, but simply to set forth the 
leading principles and practices which he ultimately 
advocated. 

At an early period Wilderspin became aware that if 
he was to succeed he must adapt his measures to the 
nature of the child. This became his leading idea, and 
the clue in all his experiments to what he hoped — a 
rational system of training. Hence he arrived at the 
truth, which he sets forth as a leading principle of 
education, that the whole nature of the child must be 
considered, and his education be physical and moral as 
well as intellectual. Physical culture required him to 
pay special attention to habits of cleanliness, and to 
those ailments of young children by which others might 
be affected. Imitative actions and amusing exercises, 
adopted at first simply as a means of arresting atten- 
tion, he continued not only on that account, but as 
important instruments in physical training. Singing, 
introduced as a recreation, was employed also for the 



80 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

same end. The playground, introduced for moral pur- 
poses, supplied the means of fresh air and outdoor 
exercises. In all these, and in clapping and marching, 
he says play is given to the lungs, the blood is sent 
with a quickened impulse, and every organ of the body 
is benefited. 

Following his principle of suiting himself to the 
nature of the child, he perceived that the rigidity of 
the N^ational or of the Dame's school was unsuitable. 
Their forced quiet, their constrained positions, were 
unnatural. Childhood is joyous, childhood is active, 
childhood is curious, childhood is imitative. The 
child delights in laughter, frolic, and fun ; and if it is 
to be educated aright, these must be encouraged and 
provided for, not repressed. Por there is a mutual 
reaction between the departments of human nature, 
and where there is a violent repression of lawful 
actions, unless in obedience to a higher law of nature, 
there must be injury. For instance, the joyousness of 
childhood, good in itself, is much more so as a moral 
agent, or at least as a favourable condition to moral 
growth ; while certainly the opposite state is one from 
which may spring all manner of evil dispositions, 
tempers, and habits. With this truth before him, he 
sought to make school a happy place, and provided the 
child, as far as he had power, the means of acting out 
its real life. 

Moral education was rightly deemed by "Wilderspin 
as the chief aim of school training ; in fact, that he 
might raise from their moral degradation, or recover 
from vice, the children of the poor or criminal class, 
was that which led to his life-long devotion to their 



WILDERSPIN. 81 

cause. Moral education should take precedence of 
every other school practice. However strong the 
temptation — and to some it is a strong one — to give 
attention to what is showy, or that can be measured, 
it must not be yielded to. The child's best interests 
must not be sacrificed to a puerile love of display, nor 
to a wish for pecuniary gain. 

Moral education embraces at least two things — the 
instilling of moral truths and principles into the mind 
of the child, and the formation of its disposition, 
temper, and habits. In other words, it aims " to give 
a moral constitution to the child instead of a moral 
custom." It has been too much the practice to depend 
on moral injunctions and the committal of Scripture 
texts to memory, as the means of giving an acquaintance 
with religious and moral truth and duty. The principle 
that he had hit on at an early period of his labours, 
that a child's education must be by things rather than 
by words, suggested the absolute futility of the common 
practice. It became evident to him that it was not 
only fruitless in moral results, but that it altogether 
failed to convey any notion of the truths themselves. 
He found that to give moral perceptions there must be 
present to the child the example or the act that embodies 
the truth. His only course was therefore to take 
advantage of the little incidents occurring in the 
schoolroom and playground, and to take familiar 
instances of conduct coming within their experience, as 
his means of communicating to them notions of virtue 
and religion. The same great truth which had served 
him in this also led him to see that injunction, precept, 
and learning by rote, would equally fail to affect the 
G 



82 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

feelings or form the habits It would be as wise to 
expect a child's health to be benefited by merely 
learning to repeat maxims on exercise and cleanliness. 
ITo ; if the disposition is to be moulded, the temper 
formed, the foundation of right habits laid, it must be 
through example, the culture of the feelings, and by 
right actions. Proper feelings must be excited, and 
occasions found for acting them out, if there is to be 
any moral or religious result. To excite feeling and 
sympathy he depended on cases actually brought before 
the children, on instances which their imaginations 
could conceive, on incidents occurring in the play- 
ground, and on example. By means of the playground 
he made himself acquainted with faults only revealed 
there, and obtained the means of exercising the moral 
judgment of the whole, or of benefiting the individual 
otherwise not possessed. Here, also, he had the sphere 
where he could bring practice to his aid. Little ones 
were taught practical lessons in forbearance, kindness, 
truthfulness, and honesty. Here they learnt to give 
way, in little tilings, to the wishes of their associates, 
to protect the weak, to help the suffering, and generally 
to learn the lesson that life consists in promoting the 
well-being of those around. In such ways he sought 
to train the heart rather than the head, to bring out 
the good deed rather than a good precept, for he had 
discovered that learning to act takes precedence in the 
life of a child of learning to talk. While thus seeking 
to prevent the formation of evil dispositions and habits 
by the formation of such as were good, he also found 
that the only way to destroy what was eviL was not 
by the rod, or by attempted forcible repression, but by 



WILDERSPIN. 83 

carefully cultivating the opposite habit, practice, or 
disposition. 

In cultivating the intelligence, the plan had hitherto 
been to do so through language. Wilderspin dis- 
covered that for the infant the process should be 
reversed. He found out, he says, on his first day in 
school, that if he would arrest the attention, it must 
be through the senses. Following this up, he obtained 
the truth that objects should be examined and com- 
pared, and ideas obtained, before the attempt to give 
them expression. This being done, language became 
to the children a living thing, words being then the 
signs of realities, instead of so much lumber lying as a 
dead weight on their faculties. This valuable principle, 
long before advocated by Locke, and shortly to be 
extensively known as Pestalozzian, is the key to 
Wilderspin's system and success in cultivation of the 
intelligence. Yet, had he adhered to his principle 
here, as in other things, of adapting himself to the 
natuie of the child, he would have found that the 
principle is valuable only within certain limits. For 
as a matter of fact and of necessity, children do acquire 
much language, and much through language, that they 
cannot understand, and this requires both to be 
furthered and dealt with in a right way. How to do 
BO was one of the problems Stow tried to solve. 

From the principle that a child's first instruction 
must be through the senses, by things, not by words, 
there was but a step to — a child must not receive simply 
at the hands of his teacher, but must make efi'orts of 
his own, his teacher showing him how to think rather 
than what to think. For " the aim of the infant 



84 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

school should not be to give knowledge, but to lay the 
foundation of the habit of seeking for it." In practice, 
there were many departures from these principles. For 
with an object before them, the attention was not con- 
fined to points which could be observed or discovered, 
but much information was detailed of a kind totally 
unsuited to the mind of a child. This at length pro- 
ceeded to such extravagant lengths, that many who did 
not discern the good came to condemn the whole thing. 

The means employed for this cultivation were various. 
Motions with the fingers accompanied the utterance of 
words, as up, down, perpendicular, horizontal, paral- 
lel, angle, and so on. Objects, and where these 
were not procurable, or of a nature not to bring into 
the schoolroom, pictures were employed on which to 
give lessons. Those on pictures he found often more 
interesting than those on objects, but he failed to dis- 
cover wherefore; which is that a higher power, the 
conceptive, is brought into play, than in simple obser- 
vation, a power to which much of the enjoyment of 
early life is traceable. Lessons in number were given 
by means of the arithmeticon, and on form by means 
of an instrument which could be formed into triangles, 
squares, and other geometrical figures. To all these he 
added lessons in reading, though not conducted on a 
method in accordance with his first principle. 

Since the first appearance of this brief account of 
Wilderspin's system, he himself has been called away. 
His death took place nine years ago. It attracted little 
attention at the time ; stiU some portions of the press 
referred to his great services to education. He was the 
first to produce a system of infant training. But he 



THE MAYOS. 85 

also awakened public attention to its importance, and 
he did much to establish it in the country. He 
travelled to many parts of England, Scotland, and 
Ireland, establishing schools, undertaking their charge 
for a month or six weeks, and then holding a public 
examination to show the nature and results of his 
work. He could boast that he had thus commenced 
the training of upwards of 20,000 children, and had 
instructed the teachers of hundreds of schools. Besides 
this, he delivered a series of lectures in the places he 
visited, explanatory of his aims and plans, and he 
published two valuable works on infant training. It 
was this enthusiastic, long-continued, and self-sacri- 
ficing advocacy that led, after two or three abortive 
attempts, to the placing of infant training on a sound 
and satisfactory basis. 



Section II. — The Mayos. 

Educational progress has consisted in the adoption 
of higher ends and aims, and of improved principles 
and methods of culture ; and in extending the area of 
culture in the community. These have generally pro- 
ceeded together. But among the workers in this field 
some have given more attention to the former than to 
the latter, satisfied that if they could improve the quality 
of education, its extension would follow. In continu- 
ing our observations, the work, sometimes of one, 
sometimes of the other, will come under notice ; but it 
is not within our purpose, even were it possible or 
desirable, to bring under review every movement of 
the past fifty or sixty years — years forming a period of 



SQ SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

educational excitement never before experienced. It 
will suffice to show the character of this progress, if we 
instance a few of the more prominent movements. 

The work of Pestalozzi attracted attention to it from 
every part of Europe. Many visited the scenes of his 
labours, and not a few, captivated by what they saw, 
remained students of principles which they felt were 
to revolutionize the entire system of early education. 
Of those, who thus visited him, there were some whose 
tastes and aptitudes, improved by liberal culture, enabled 
them to separate the principles from the forms in which 
they were embodied, and by which their real nature 
was too often obscured, even from Pestalozzi himself. 
But for them, his must have been simply an example 
of lofty zeal and self-sacrificing devotion to the cause 
of education. Catching the spirit of his method 
rather than its form, these provided courses of instruc- 
tion and training for the systematic and harmonious 
development of the whole nature of the child. Among 
these, Charles Mayo and his sister did for England 
what had been already done for Continental countries 
by others of Pestalozzi 's disciples. 

" Profoundly convinced," he observes in his preface 
to " Lessons on Objects," " of the truth of Pestalozzi's 
views, and warned against his errors by long actual 
observation of their consequences, the writer of these 
prefatory remarks determined to attempt the introduc- 
tion of his method into England, religiously preservin<y 
the Idea, but adapting the Form to those circum- 
stances in which he might be placed. He considered 
that the most effectual mode of accomplishing this end 
was to devote himself to the formation and conduct of 



THE MAYOS. 87 

a scliool, in which the arrangement and practical appli- 
cation of those principles might be made. To exhibit 
the system in operation, to elaborate, by means of 
experiments continually repeated, a course of instruc- 
tion ; and above all, to prepare materials for an appeal 
to actual results, seemed to him a far more useful and 
effectual, though less rapid or brilliant process, than 
that of dragging it before reluctant audiences at public 
meetings, or of advocating its merits in the periodical 
publications of the day. He was content that it should 
be buried in oblivion for a while, assured that if it 
possessed the life of truth, it would in due time spring 
up with renovated vigour. That time seems to have 
arrived. Attention to this subject is revived. Schools- 
professing to be conducted on Pestalozzian principles 
are increasing in number, and publications issue from 
the press which point out, with more or less success, 
the manner of applying them to different branches of 
instruction. Under these encouraging circumstances, 
it is proposed to publish, from time to time, a number 
of little treatises of a strictly practical nature, em- 
bodying in a familiar manner the principles of Pesta- 
lozzi. They will be the results of many years' expe- 
rience — the corrected and re-corrected editions of 
lessons actually given by different individuals." In 
conformity with this announcement, there issued at 
short intervals little books of " Lessons as given at 
Cheam, Surrey." But before this, as early as 1826, 
Mr. Mayo had directed attention to Pestalozzi and his 
principles, in a lecture at the Royal Institution. From 
this lecture we give the following summary of Pesta- 
lozzi's principles. 



88 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Pestalozzi was unencumbered by the trammels of a 
regular school, and unfettered by its routine. Nature 
became the school book ; and, in the actual experience 
and self-acquired knowledge of his pupils, he found 
those elements of instruction which are usually sought 
in the discoveries of other minds and the abstractions 
of science. Pestalozzi accustomed his pupils to make 
observations on the objects that surrounded them, and to 
express with accuracy the ideas which they thus acquired. 
He taught his assistants that reading, writing, and 
arithmetic were not the real elements of instruction, 
but that a simpler, a more natural foundation, must be 
sought. The basis of all sound knowledge, argued he, 
is the accurate observation of things acting on the out- 
ward senses. Unless physical conceptions be formed 
with distinctness, our abstractions will be vague, and 
our judgments and reasoning unstable. The first object 
then in education must be to lead a child to observe 
with accuracy ; the second, to express with correctness 
the result of his observation. The practice of embody- 
ing in language the conceptions we form gives per- 
manence to the impressions ; and the habit of ex- 
pressing ourselves with the utmost precision of which 
we are capable, mainly assists the faculty of thinking 
with accuracy and remembering with fidelity. 

This being the leading idea of his method, the fol- 
lowing are the principles by which it should be 
pursued. 

Education should be essentially religious. Its end 
and aim should be to lead a creature, born for immor- 
tality, to that conformity to the image of God in which 
the glory and happiness of immortality consists. In 



THE MAYOS. 89 

pursuing this end, the instructor must regard himself 
as standing in God's stead to the child ; and as by the 
revelation of God's love is the spiritual transformation 
of man accomplished, so must the earthly teacher 
build all his moral agencies on the manifestation of his 
own love towards the pupil. Then, as " we love God 
because He first loved us," so will the affections of the 
pupil be awakened towards his instructor, when he 
feels himself the object of that instructor's regard. 
Again, as love to God generates conformity to His will, 
so will obedience to the instructor be the consequence 
of awakened affection. 

Education should be essentially moral. The prin- 
ciples and standard of its morality should be derived 
from the precepts of the gospel, as illustrated by the 
example of the Eedeemer. Moral instruction, to be 
availing, must be the purified and elevated expression 
of moral life actually pervading the scene of education. 
In carrying on the business of the schooh'oom, or in 
watching over the diversions of the playground, the 
motives and restraints of the purest morality, and those 
only, must be employed. Moral diseases are not to be 
counteracted by moral poisons; nor is intellectual 
attainment to be furthered at the expense of moral 
good. 

Education should be essentially organic. A stone 
increases in size by the mechanical deposition of matter 
on its external surface ; a plant, on the other hand, 
grows by continual expansion of those organs which 
lie folded up in its germ. Elementary education, 
as ordinarily carried on, is a mechanical inculcation 
of knowledge, in the Pestalozzian system it is an 



90 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

organic development of the human faculties, moral, 
intellectual, and physical. Moral education does not 
consist in preventing immoral actions in the pupil, but 
in cultivating dispositions, forming principles, and 
establishing habits. Nor does intellectual education 
attain its end by the mere communication of intellec- 
tual truths, but rather in the development of those 
faculties by which truth is recognised and discovered. 
And, lastly, physical education, instead of confining 
itself to instruction in particular arts, must be directed 
to the improvement of the outward senses, and the 
increase of activity and strength. 

Activity is the great means of development, for action 
is the parent of jpower. The sentiments of the heart, 
the faculties of the mind, the powers of the body, 
advance to their maturity through a succession of 
acting in conformity to their nature. Opportunities 
for the exercise of moral virtue should be carefully 
sought oiit, or, at least, diligently applied. To culti- 
vate benevolent dispositions, the pupil should be 
invited to relieve the indigent ; to overcome his selfish, 
ness, he should be induced to share or to part with the 
objects of his own desire. In intellectual culture 
every branch of instruction should be so presented to the 
pupil's mind, as to bring into the highest activity the 
faculties most legitimately employed upon it. 

That there may be that action that leads to develop- 
ment, there must be liberty. It may be possible by a 
system of coercion, to produce a negative exterior 
morality, which shall endure as long as the circum- 
stances on which it is built remain in force ; but no 
interior moral power, that shall survive a change of 



THE MAYOS. 91 

outward circam stances, can be formed, unless such 
moral liberty be enjoyed as leaves to the judgment 
room for discerning between good and evil ; to the 
moral choice the adoption of the one, and the rejection 
of the other; to the conscience the approval and rewarding 
of right, the condemnation and punishment of wrong. 
Eestraint is useful to check the career of passion, to 
arrest the progress and diffusion of moral mischief, to 
remove the incentives to evil, and to restore to that 
position in which the moral principle may again exert 
its influence. Still ii is only a negative, not a positive 
means. All the real development of man, moral, intel- 
lectual, and physical, arises from moral, intellectual, 
and physical liberty. 

This liberty must be directed by an influence essen- 
tially parental ; where there is no mother there can be 
no child, is as true morally as it is physically. It is 
the order of providence that maternal affection and 
maternal wisdom should call forth the dawning powers 
of childhood ; and that the wisdom and firmness of a 
father should build up and consolidate the fabric 
which reposes on a mother's love. The Pestalozzian 
instructor must combine the character of each relation, 
but exhibit them in different proportions according to 
the age and disposition of his pupil. 

The development of the faculties should be harmo- 
nious. In some cases the intellectual, or moral, or 
both, are sacrificed to the physical ; in some, the moral, 
or physical, or both, to the intellectual. A Pestaloz- 
zian educator respects the rights of each. He fortifies 
the body by gymnastic exercises, while he cultivates 
the understanding, and trains the sentiments. He en- 



92 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

deavours to preserve the equipoise in each, as well as 
between each of the three departments, to mingle 
firmness with sweetness, judgment with taste, activity 
with strength. His object will be, not to develop a 
disproportionate strength in one faculty, but to produce 
that general harmony of mind and character which is 
the most conducive to the happiness and usefulness of 
the individual. 

Development should be essentially progressive. The 
sentiments should be gradually led to take a higher 
direction and a wider range. The motives of well- 
doing must be by degrees elevated and purified in their 
character ; the duty which was discharged at first in 
obedience to an earthly father must be set forth as the 
requirements of a heavenly one ; the charities of life 
must be exercised towards those in immediate contact ; 
by degrees an interest may be cultivated in operations 
embracing a wider or distant sphere of usefulness. 

In every branch of study, the point de depart is 
sought in the actual experience of the child ; and from 
that point where he intellectually is, he is progressively 
led to that point where the instructor wishes him to 
be. Thus he proceeds from the known to the unknown, 
by a process that connects the latter with the former, 
and, instead of being abruptly placed in contact with 
the abstract elements of a science, he is led by a course 
of analytical investigations of the knowledge actually 
possessed, to form for himself those intellectual ab- 
stractions which are in general presented as the primary 
truths. 

With these adaptations of Pestalozzi's principles, 
Mr. Mayo and his sister gave themselves to the task of 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 93 

working them out in a private school. Subsequently 
they embodied them in the series of lessons to which 
reference has been made, and eventually secured for 
them a wide circulation and adoption through the 
agency of the Home and Colonial Training Institution. 
With that institution and its great work their name is 
intimately associated. 



Section HI.— Home and Colonial School Society . 

It is a remarkable fact in connection with educa- 
tional progress, that its gains and its advancement have 
been by a constant struggle against a tendency to de- 
teriorate. So much of the success of a method, or of 
the appHcation of a principle, has been due to the 
personal element— the zeal and enthusiasm of the 
teacher—that many, who thought to adopt the principle 
or apply the method, have failed to obtain like results. 
Nor is it difficult to account for this. It is much easier 
to get the form in which a method or a principle is 
embodied, than it is to get the thing itself. It is also 
a much easier thing to apply the form mechanically, 
than it is to work out by the principle or method in- 
volved. Hence as few ever penetrated through the 
form, and many lacked the spirit which alone wins 
success, while most were too indolent, intellectually, to 
incur the exertion that true education demands, there 
have been but few good teachers, and the majority have 
either sunk back into rote and rule, or have aimed at 
results which, while they were showy, were also un- 
sound. This tendency to deterioration has had illus- 



94 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

trations in every movement of the century, but in 
no case more noticeably than in infant education. 

The primary object of an Infants' School should be 
moral and physical training, and laying the basis of 
good habits. The cultivation of intelligence — except 
as a matter of method — should hold a subordinate 
place. By Wilderspin and some of his abler coadjutors, 
this object was on the whole kept steadily in view. But 
by many, the Infants' School was made either a place 
of amusement — necessary to keep the little ones quiet 
■ — or a place of forcing or cram. In many schools, the 
number of subjects professed was appalling, and would 
have been sufficient to task the energies of adults. 
The teaching — not that it deserved the name — was 
showy and pretentious. The result was seeming wealth 
and real poverty. Words, hard, dry, scientific, took 
the place of things and ideas. Facts of all kinds were 
crammed into the children's mouths, to the injury of 
their truthfulness, and to the prevention of their growth 
in real intelligence. There was no proper method, no 
proper food. Ignorant of mind, and indifierent to con- 
sequences, these empirics brought the whole system 
into ridicule, and placed the existence of such schools 
in peril. In corroboration of this, we may quote the 
following observations of the late Joseph Fletcher, Esq., 
one of II.M. Inspectors of schools : " Some of the 
promoters of infant schools appear to have considered 
them merely as asylums for healthful amusement, under 
some degree of discipline and moral control. Others 
seem to have thought they presented opportunities 

likewise for mental improvement The 

most fatal error was the leaven of intellectual display 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 95 

which, whatever the subjects for its exercise, appears to 
have crept into a good many of these establishments of 
earlier formation. It seems to have produced in some 
of them what I do not know how to designate other- 
wise than as the ' prodigy system,' under which the 
quicker children were to be wonders of envy and ad- 
miration to the rest, and the whole school in which 
they were exhibited one of admiration, if not of envy, 
to its friends and neighbours, on occasion of each 
* examination,' which might more truly have been 
designated a little ' drama,' in which the clever children 
had each their little part of ' representation ' by rote. 
Conceit, envy, and fretfulness, ill restrained by fear, 
were the leading moral elements of such a system ; and 
stultifying verbal repetition, its chief intellectual 
exercise. Travesties of the language of science vied 
with desecrations of that of Scripture, and the world 
of truth was shut out by a veil of familiarity with its 
un vivified formulae." 

But there were some who knew how invaluable were 
well-conducted Infants' Schools. They had formed a 
right opinion of their true purpose, they had a fairly 
just conception of the objects to be sought in the cul- 
tivation of intelligence during the period of infancy, 
and they had a glimpse of the methods appropriate to 
the period and purpose. Unwilling that what was 
good should be lost, and that institutions capable of so 
much real work should fail, through a mistaken or 
inefficient agency, they formed a society for the purpose 
of " improving and extending " the existing system. 

This Society, founded in 1836, adopted the title, 
Home and Colonial Infant School Society. It in- 



96 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

eluded in its purpose the training of teachers, and the 
working out and setting forth in model schools such 
principles, practices and methods as a growing ex- 
perience and careful experiment might establish as 
suitable for infant training. " At an early period of 
their labours, they were so fortunate as to obtain the 
cordial co-operation of Miss Mayo, the well-known 
author of ' Lessons on Objects,' who, to a clear know- 
ledge of the principles on which Infant Education 
should be founded, added eminent practical skill, 
acquired at her brother's justly celebrated school at 
Cheam." They also secured the services of Robert 
Dunning as Training Master — a gentleman eminently 
qualified by natural aptitude, special study, and ex- 
tensive experience, for that office, and they obtained 
as Honorary Secretary, J. S. Reynolds, — to whose 
zeal, devotion, indefatigable exertion, and educational 
knowledge, the Institution owes much of its success. 

Ere this Society began its labours, the two most 
marked systems of infant training were those of 
Wilderspin and Stow. That of Wilderspin, as pointed 
out in a former section, was in its essential features the 
same as that of Pestalozzi. In the hands of many, 
however, it had sadly degenerated, until it had lost 
nearly all that was appropriate for infant culture. Stow, 
though professing to observe the same principles, 
really to a great extent lost sight of them in his pur- 
suit of what he thought a higher, yet appropriate 
culture of the infant mind. The advent of a new 
society, aiming to improve and extend existing systems, 
might have been thought a favourable juncture for 
framing a system of culture that should harmoniously 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 97 

blend the two great methods, and do really what both 
professed, train the *' hand, the head, and the heart." 
But the time had not yet come. The infant mind had 
not been sufficiently studied. No system was yet 
possible that should provide an education just suited 
to the nature of the being to be educated. The ac- 
cession of Miss Mayo gave a decided direction in the 
system of training adopted to Pestalozzianism. Not 
that there was a slavish adherence to a name. The 
active agents in the work of training were too much 
in earnest, and too practical, not to avail themselves of 
whatever might more effectually promote it. 

An early improvement on the existing system was 
the banishment of the huge gallery, and the division 
of the school into sections, so as to render possible a 
gradual system of instruction and training, adapted to 
the nascent power and awakening faculties of the 
children. The same thing had been done by Stow for 
juveniles above the age of seven, but he retained in the 
Infant School the absurd practice of addressing at 
once the whole school, though ranging between the 
ages of two and six. 

The following remarks by Mr. Dunning, in 1841, 
set forth the purpose and advantages of this arrange- 
ment. 

" I now come to the question — Why are the children 
of the Model School separated at gallery lessons, and 
not taught together as in the greater majority of Infant 
Schools ? I like to see this spirit of inquiry into our 
plans and practices : we want teachers to investigate 
and to think for themselves, and I earnestly wish they 
would do so, not only when they visit the Model 
H 



98 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

School, but every other school. Observe first, any 
plans that differ from your own, and endeavour to 
ascertain the reasons for them : examine them with 
reference to the true ends and aims of education, and, 
having formed your judgment, adopt or reject them 

accordingly Our changes are not the 

results of caprice or a desire of novelty ; we endeavour 
to keep in mind the physical, intellectual, and moral 
improvement of the children on the standard of reason 
and the word of Grod ; and as increased experience 
amongst the little ones has proved the inadequacy of 
any plans practised, they have been laid aside, and suc- 
ceeded by others better calculated to promote the end 
in view. It is the effect produced by our machinery, 
and not the machinery itself, that is the object of our 
attention ; and considering how limited is the know- 
ledge of the phenomena of the human mind, and of 
the laws which regulate human thought and feeling, it 
is no matter of surprise that we should see grounds for 

changing our plans But to return to the 

immediate subject before us ; the principle on which 
children in the Model School are separated at gallery 
lessons is precisely the same as that which leads all 
teachers to separate them at reading, ciphering, or 
writing. We ought just as soon to think of teaching 
all the children to read together in one class, as to 
l^arn the elements of knowledge in one division. In 
teaching to read in classes, you adopt a method that 
economises time, that keeps all grades of children em- 
ployed; the advanced are not retarded by those of 
slower progress, nor the slow and dull hurried beyond 
their power. ISTow this is all good as far as it goes, but 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 99 

it is capable of a more extended application ; it is 
equally applicable to intellectual and moral improve- 
ment ; they are precisely in the same degree progressive ; 
they do not change their nature because they are taught 
in a gallery ; and experience shows that there is no 
mode of meeting the difficulty but by dividing and 
classifying the children. In some Infant Schools the 
only object is to provide comfortable shelter to the 
children ; then they may content themselves with a 
spacious apartment, an ample playground, a few pictures 
to amuse the mind, and a few swings to occupy the 
body. In such a place, the division of a gallery of 
children would be absurd. In other schools, the great 
object is the acquisition of the art of reading and one 
or two other mechanical exercises, whilst the songs sung, 
and the little lessons given on pictures, are only to re- 
lieve and amuse. Here, again, division is out of the 
question. In schools of a different character, how- 
ever, the principles which require the classification of 
children whilst receiving instruction and exercise at tho 
galleries, may be summed as follows : — 1st, *That the 
development of the various faculties does not take 
place at the same time, and that in each it is progres- 
sive.' 2nd, ' That when the internal faculties are 
systematically and habitually exercised, they gain 
strength, durability, and readiness of action.' 3rd, ' That 
to derive benefit from the exercise given, the strength 
and continuance of the stimulus must be duly propor- 
tioned to the maturity and condition of the faculty on 
which it operates.' In carrying these principles into 
practice, our children are separated into four great 
divisions, which may be almost called four schools. In 



100 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

these, the children are arranged not according to size, 
or age, or acquirements in reading, but according as 
their mental and moral faculties seem to he awak- 
ened. 

" The utility of this division, and the graduated and 
progressive nature of the instruction given," will be 
apparent on consideration " of the objects kept in view 
in each of the four divisions. In the first division, it 
is proposed to exercise the bodily organs, to obtain order 
and obedience, preserving a tone of cheerful good 
humour fitting the joyous season of infancy, and to 
give the first religious impressions. 

" In the second division, it is proposed to exercise 
the conceptive, as well as the percepti-^^e faculties of 
the children ; that is, to accustom them to reproduce 
and accurately express the ideas gained through the 
senses; to arouse and enlighten their consciences, by 
bringing, before them different moral qualities, and 
particularly their own responsibility; to call out 
religious feeling, making nse for this purpose of Scrip- 
ture pictures. 

'*In the third division it is proposed, in addition to 
exercising the faculties of perception and conception, 
to give the children a little simple information on sub- 
jects about which they have been previously interestad, 
and to exercise their memories in storing up the ideas 
gained ; to make the moral instruction arise as much 
as possible out of the events of the day, habituating 
the children to try their own dispositions and conduct 
by the standard of the Bible; the religious lessons 
to be drawn, immediately from the Bible, and to form 
a regular course by which the children may be trained 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 101 

to preserve in their minds a chain of events ; the in- 
struction in general to become more systematic and 
connected. 

" In the fourth division, or juvenile section, the 
children become more independent of the master's 
instruction ; they learn to acquire for themselves ; the 
object with them is to cultivate the higher faculties, as 
judgment and reflection, — to give a more decided 
direction to those powers that have been developed, 
and to endeavour to fit them for a life of usefulness. 
Writing, ciphering, and linear drawing are more 
practised, and a larger share of Scripture and other 
important information committed to memory. They 
also perform the office of monitors, and thus learn to 
make use of what they have acquired." 

It is easy to trace in this description the lingering 
of those forcing practices which had been heretofore 
the bane of many infants' schools. But the fact of 
graduating the lessons to the growing capacity, and of 
forming divisions in which to carry them out, with the 
evident desire that existed to arrive at a rational system, 
gave a warrant that as experience grew, that which was 
preposterous would disappear. 

Having adopted Pestalozzianism as its basis, this 
Society's great service to the cause of infant education 
was the reduction of its principles and methods to a 
practicable shape. This it did by the preparation of 
graduated courses of instruction. Surveying, from the 
stand-point chosen, the field of infant culture, they 
selected such subjects as were fitted for their purpose, 
and dealt with them so as to illustrate their fitness to 
secure the end in view, and to point out the method by 



102 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

which it was to be attained. Their aim was by a 
graduated and progressive course to secure the harmo- 
nious development of the whole child, so as to pre- 
serve it from being of stunted and dwarfed proportions, 
a result which would certainly follow from a one-sided 
treatment, and a result which the system adopted 
would not enable them to escape. The courses of in- 
struction provided indicated the matter which was 
deemed suitable for the specific purpose in view, the 
order in which it should be presented, and the method 
by which it was to effect its design. The latter was 
also deemed to equal or to surpass in importance the 
other, so that it became almost an axiom that how to 
teach was of more importance than what to teach. 

Development and intuition are the two great watch- 
words of Pestalozzianism. The former points out that 
education is an organic process, proceeding from within, 
activity on the part of the child being essential to 
the end, — the growth and vigour of its faculties. 
It also points out the necessity of suitable stimuli being 
presented to the embryo faculties to excite them to 
action, and that these must be presented in a gradual 
and progressive way, so as at once to feed, to strengthen, 
and to stimulate for higher action. And it also points 
out that each phase of mind^ — feeling, will, intelligence 
— must be regarded, as it is impossible to exclude any 
during the presence of one, and that no child is devel- 
oped where any department has been overlooked. The 
latter points out the condition of success ; the starting- 
point of successful culture being the child's observa- 
tion or experience. These principles and others allied 
therewith are set forth in the graduated courses and 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 103 

numerous publications of the Society in a way whicli 
leaves nothing to be desired. Other principles, more 
advanced and of equal importance, are often enunciated, 
but their application is obscured by the prominence of 
the other method. Nor is it, perhaps, a loss that it is 
so. For we have, in consequence, as complete an ex- 
position of what Pestalozzianism can accomplish as may 
be hoped for or desired. 

In endeavouring to form a right estimate of this 
work, of the fitness of any part of it, or of the end 
proposed, it must be constantly borne in mind what 
that end was. It was nothing less than the complete 
education of a child during the period of infancy. 
The claim advanced was that of having nicely adapted 
a variety of expedients into one harmonious system, 
that takes in every faculty of child-nature coming into 
play during the period of culture. Such a claim implies 
that the child has been an object of study, and that a 
complete knowledge of it, and of the laws of its 
being, has been obtained. Without this the right 
education of the whole child cannot be, and any scheme 
of education will vary in completeness according to the 
knowledge possessed. We may well hesitate in 
yielding assent to this claim. But granting a partial 
knowledge to have been obtained, and a theory of child- 
life formed, complete as far as it goes, defective but not 
erroneous, it may be held that in judging of their 
scheme ot education we must regard it from their stand- 
point, and must consider any part, not as if isolated, but 
as one of many things working together for an in- 
tended result. 

The object was a noble one. In fact, it was the only 



104 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

way to success at all. "No one can succeed as an edu- 
cator who does not conceive of education as a whole ; 
as a fitting of parts synchronously and in succession. 
There is nothing really isolated in a teacher's work. 
The close of a lesson is not the end of it. Nor is it 
the number of lessons that makes school work. Nor 
are the lessons, where education is the aim, however 
distinct in subject, isolated in purpose. School work, 
if it is to be educational, however diverse it may be, 
must be a unity. All the lessons, all the influences at 
work, in all the days of school life, must be considered 
and provided in order to harmoniously working out 
the child's education. Oneness is the characteristic of 
a good educational system, and this Society must have 
\ the credit of giving it its rightful prominence. 

We shall begin our illustrations with religious 
training. It was a principle of Pestalozzi that educa- 
tion should be essentially religious. He regarded a 
child as possessing religious instincts, which had but 
to be properly exercised to become religious principles 
and habits. Eut this Society took a more Scriptural 
and evangelical view. The necessity of the Holy 
Spirit's work on the heart and conscience was insisted 
upon. It was seen that, however true the doctrine, 
however suitable in form, however well adapted to 
interest the child, to awaken its sympathies, to enlighten 
and quicken its conscience, it would be but a show of 
vain words, powerless to change the heart or improve 
the life if not accompanied by the direct influence 
of the Holy Spirit. 

Eeligious education does not consist in furnishing 
the memory with texts, nor in the daily use of the 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 105 

Scriptures, nor even in acquaintance with the doctrines 
of the gospel. Eeligion itself is not a belief, but a 
spiritual and transforming influence, pervading the 
whole life. So religious education consists not in the 
knowledge given, but in a holy influence felt in the 
schoolroom and in the playground, in the lesson and 
at play. It is not religious education unless the truth 
given in the lesson has a transforming influence on the 
character, or becomes an active Principle in the life. 
Hence the test of success is in the child and not in the 
lesson. It is not, has the truth been communicated, but 
has its power been experienced 1 With such an aim as 
this the devoted teacher will not be satisfied with the 
extent of Scripture knowledge, however gratifying in 
itself, but will be ever watching for the dawning. of 
spiritual light, and the buddings of spiritual life. 

Still truth must be communicated. In fact it is the 
first step. Then what truth, at what period, and in 
what form 1 These questions receive a definite reply. 
The truth to be taught relates to Grod, His character, 
His abhorrence of sin. His mercy through Christ, the 
relations of the child to God and its duties to Him, and 
generally a knowledge of His will and word. Such 
truth, as the child is able to receive it, cannot be com- 
municated too soon. There is no .sympathy with the 
crotchet that would leave the mind uninformed tiU 
reason is ripe. For the truth is not given for the 
benefit of the intellect but for the impression of the 
heart. And the youngest mind capable of affection to 
a parent is in a position to have a similar feeling 
awakened towards God. The form in which this truth 
is communicated is the vital point. It must not be 



106 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

by abstract statement. It must enter the intelligence 
or it will not reach the heart, and mere abstractions 
fail to do that. 

Three steps or stages are recognised as marking this 
course. 

" First Step. — First ideas of God. The object at 
this step, is to give the infants their first ideas of God 
— to teach them that they have a Heavenly Father ; 
leading them to feel somewhat of His power, from its 
manifestations in tliose works of His with which they 
are familiar, and soniewliat of His benevolence, by com- 
paring it with the love shown them by their parents 
and friends. Thus to begin with what they have seen 
dnd done, and then endeavour to raise their hearts to 

Him whom faith oidy can comprehend 

Teachers should avail themselves of what is passing 
immediately under the children's observation. On a 
bright sunny day, let the blessing we derive from the 
sun, and the goodness of God manifested in the beauti- 
ful and useful part of His creation, form the lesson. 
On a wet day they might learn to understand and ap- 
preciate something of God's goodness in sending the 
rain, which refreshes our earth and causes it to bring 
forth and bud. A lesson on their food, on water — its 
uses and abundant supply, on hre, all might help to 
raise the infant heart in reverential love to the Giver of 
all good." The following may be taken as an out- 
line of the lessons at this step : — " 1. The children 
to be led to talk about something in which they are 
interested — their parents, and what they do for them, 
or some of the works, of creation — endeavouring to 
call out their feelings. 2. What they see and know to 



TIOMK ANT) COLONLVL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 107 

be made a stepping-stone to what tlioy cannot see 
and do not know. To load them from the love of their 
earthly parents to form some iiUui of Cu)d, who is 
love ; to lead tluMii also to eonci'ive from observation 
of His works that i\o must he good and great, and 
wise. 3. The ideas gained in eac.li lesson to he care- 
fully impressed on tlie nuuuory hy simultaneous 
repetition." 

This step has been advocatcMl on these gronnds. 
" There are conceptions to be foruii'd of a lieing that 
is neither present, nor can be seen, and cannot be com- 
piUHul (except faiutly and in some remote points) to 
anything around the cliihl ; wlio can only be known 
by tlui manifestations he gives us of himself, in nature, 
providtuice, and grace. This is to be taught to a chihl 
in the lirst dawninga of intellect, and to one who has 
no ideas at iirst, except what it receives from sensible 
objects; whose feelings come into activity as it conu's 
into contact with the beings around it. Ihit whilst 
the child is thus circumstanced intc^llectually, it ia 
constituted so as easily to go from what it sees to what 
it does not see, and to transfer its ideas of what is 
seen to that which may not be seen. Morally, it is 
disposed to depend on, to love, to reverence, to submit 
to, to conciliate thci persons around it, to believe the 
woril of those it loves, and so on, and it can be made 
to transfer these feelings to parties remote. 'J'he [)()int 
at which we are to start at is, this little being itself, 
with all its ideas taken from scuisible things, and all its 
feelings brought into activity by the actions of those 
around it, and the point to which we an^ to bring it, is 
God, whom rightly to know is life etejnaJ. In tho 



108 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

first step we endeavour to awaken the feelings of love, 
gratitude, dependence, reverence, faith, towards those 
around the child ; and thus prepare him to exercise 
the same feelings towards God." 

The first of these positions may be granted. It is 
not so clear that the other may. It is easy to see that 
a child may form conceptions of the unknown from 
what it knows, that is, '* to transfer its ideas of what 
is seen to that which may not be seen ; " but it is 
difficult to conceive how a child " can be made to 
transfer " its feelings at the will of those in charge of 
it. The fact is, feelings are excited by the presence of 
their objects, and where any feeling has been habitually 
excited and properly yielded to, there the feeling has a 
tendency to pass into the phase of disposition, so that 
the mind is in the state to take the initiative in refer- 
ence to anything that contains the exciting cause. 
Now the difficulty in relation to the feelings, love, 
reverence, submission, and such like, is in placing the 
object really and distinctly before the mind ; but let 
these feelings be brought into activity in connection 
with those that the child knows, until the child be- 
comes disposed to exercise them towards all possessing 
the qualities, then if their exciting causes as existing 
in God can be made distinct to the child, the feelings 
will spring up of course. The closing sentence is a 
better statement of the result sought than the former 
one, and may be accepted as embodying the great 
principle on which all must act who would excite 
religious emotion in a child. 

Second Step. — Further ideas of God from Scripture 
incidents, by the aid of Scripture prints. " At this 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 109 

step, it is proposed to carry the children through a 
course of religious instruction, with the help of Scrip- 
ture prints. The story is to be gathered from the 
picture by the children's attention being directed to 
it by questions. A portion of Scripture should be 
given, that the children may connect the narratives 
with the Bible, and receive them as divine instruction." 
*' The Scripture print is to be used in various ways. 
Pirst, it serves as a groundwork for questions. At the 
commencement of the lessons the children must be 
questioned in such a manner that they may obtain and 
give answers by looking at the print. Thus, their 
observation being directed to the representation, their 
minds will be brought to bear upon the subject, and 
they will long for the narrative. Secondly, while the 
narrative is given in the words of the teacher, or in 
words read from the Bible, questions are mingled at 
intervals with the relation, and the print is glanced at 
again and again, for the requisite reply. Thirdly, the 
print is to be used as a help to the children in the 
repetition of the narrative." 

" The purpose of prints in scriptural instruction is 
to awaken curiosity, to excite observation, to engage 
and fix attention. That the print is needed and suited 
to accomplish these ends is very certain. All wi^o 
know anything of the minds of children, know that 
their interest will be excited by the mere sight of a 
picture. We know, too, that when their interest has 
been excited, a considerable efibrt must be made in 
order to sustain their attention. If infants have not 
the subject of instruction set as an object before their 
eyes, their thoughts soon begin to wander from it. It 



110 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

is true they may be interested by the meaning of 
words addressed to them; nevertheless, without an 
object which meets the eye their minds cannot easily 
be fixed on the subject, and drawn off from all others. 

Eut, beside the purpose to which the 

teacher purposely applies the print, it benefits the 
children even without his effort or design. It aids 
the conceptions of the children, it enlivens their 
apprehension by embodying their ideas. While their 
ears receive the words addressed to them, their eyes 
encounter a representation of the ideas, and thus 
impressions are made on the mind with a two- 
fold impulse, and become doubly deep and permanent. 

Whatever improvement of the mind 

and heart can be effected by means of a Bible lesson 
without a print, may be effected by means of a lesson 
with one. In addition to such benefit, moreover, the 
use of the print insures greater exercise of mind, and 
so an increase of its strength, a more lively apprehen- 
sion of the subject, and a more lasting impression on 
the memory." The use of prints as a mechanical aid 
to less gifted teachers, and as a necessary one for infants 
from the poverty of their language and the weakness 
of their attention, is no reason for the more gifted 
teacher with more advanced children shackling himself 
with such a device. A descriptive and word-picturing 
method has certainly the advantage of giving more 
scope to the teacher, at the same time that it demands 
a greater effort from the children. 

" Third Step, — Scripture histories and character, 
religious and moral duties, and Scripture natural his- 
tory. At this step, narratives are chosen, with a view 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. Ill 

to inculcate some of the chief fiindamental truths of 
Christianity. For instance, sin — its nature — intro- 
duction into the world — its consequences — and the 
remedy provided for it in the sacrifice of the Son of 
God. Incidents and characters are also selected, with 
a view to inculcate some important truth or influential 
precept. As the children advance, lessons are given to 
illustrate the natural history of the Bible; and the 
instruction is drawn from the Bible in a regular con- 
nected course, thereby training the children to preserve 
in their minds the idea of a chain of events." 

With respect to the general method of conducting 
religious instruction, it is held that a mother's inter- 
course with her little ones should suggest the style of 
communication. Colloquial and simple, while winning 
the confidence of the little ones, it will also be found 
to be the most impressive. A lesson too will be more 
effective if confined to developing and impressing one 
point. This will not make the lesson meagre, for it 
may be discussed in a variety of ways, and, in fact, 
should be, both in order to gain it admission into more 
minds than one mode would secure, and also to impress 
it more deeply. In fact, little by little, must be the 
motto of the teacher of infants. His charge, as pointed 
out long ago, are like narrow-necked phials, which sub- 
jected to a continual stream receive little or nothing, 
hut taking in drop by drop, retain and fill. 

The counterpart of religious instruction is moral 
training. There is a sense in which morality may exist 
without religion. That is, certain moral habits may 
exist, and certain moral practices obtain, where there 
is no pretence to religious feeling, and no reference to 



112 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

religious sanctions. But the highest morality, nay, it 
may be said true morality does not exist except as the 
fruit of religious principle. The true character of a 
practice, habit, or principle is the motive from which 
it springs, and religion recognises those acts only as 
moral which proceed from motives such as God approves. 
It is not enough that the act is one that God sanctions 
or commands, its performance must spring from the 
intention to do His will. In the mselves, therefore, 
religious education and moral training cannot be disso- 
ciated if we would have the latter on a right basis. 
Eeligious education is a sham if it does not secure 
moral results, and moral training will prove a delusion 
if it is not founded on religious sanctions. There can 
be no real severance between religion and morality, — 
where the former is the latter must be. The latter in 
its true nature cannot be where the other is not. For 
neither is what it professes to be without the other. 

This is the ground occupied by this society. "Morality 
is that practice which results from obedience to Chris- 
tian precepts on Christian principles ; the application 
to the ordinary events and duties of life of the doc- 
trines and precepts of the Christian religion. Moral 
training is the application to children in their ordinary 
conduct, in the schoolroom and playground, of the 
precepts which they learn from the Bible." Moral 
training thus becomes a process which has for its aim 
the implanting of moral principles and the formation 
of moral habits, under the sanctions of the word of 
God. It has, consequently, much in common with 
religious instruction, its point of departure being the 
steps taken to form the practice and the habit. 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 113 

To form the practice and habits, attention must be 
given to the springs of action. To attend to acts 
regardless of the feelings of which they are the ex- 
pression, or which they tend to excite, would be to miss 
the central point in moral culture. The feelings require 
attention. Some are to be brought under control, 
others have to be strengthened, and, especially, all have 
to be regarded in reference to their objects. Feeling is 
not an end. It exists as a means. It is an incentive 
to action. As a feeling does or does not find issue in 
action, so it subserves or not its purpose in the human 
economy. Hence the feelings demand culture, which 
culture must embrace the actions allied thereto. If 
the feelings and their associated actions receive proper 
attention, the result is the formation of the disposition, 
temper, and habits, or, in a Avord, of moral character. 
The importance of this culture is acknowledged by this 
society. At an early period some of its officers ex- 
pressed regret that the same success had not attended 
their work here as in other points. They thought that 
the same clear results should be expected from the 
culture of the feelings as from the culture of the intellect ; 
that a teacher should be able to act upon a feeling, as 
compassion, as systematically and effectively as upon 
perception or judgment. In intellectual education it is 
known beforehand what effect is to be produced, and 
the nature of the means to be employed to produce it. 
It ought, they thought, to be the same with the feelings. 
There ought to be just as clear a conception of the end 
sought, and just as wise an adaptation of the means. 
'No doubt this is very desirable, and perhaps would be 
attainable if our knowledge of all the springs of action 
I 



114 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

in their thousandfold complications was perfect, and our 
control of all the circumstances which excite or modify 
them complete. 

Two or three considerations may be offered why the 
same success is not to be expected in the culture of the 
feelings in school as of other mental or of physical 
powers. First, the occasions are not always at hand 
for the cultivation of any particular feeling. In the 
cultivation of intelligence, the means may be extem- 
porized if they are not ready at hand, but it is not so 
with the feelings. It is true that occasions as they 
occur may be seized, and as Locke says, when possible 
they should be made, but in many cases it is impossible. 
And if the occasions cannot be made, systematic culture 
cannot be had. For instance, suppose the feeling is 
compassion : the proper object of this is wretchedness, 
and the purpose of exciting it is relief. But how pro- 
vide the exciting cause 1 It may be said, invent it ; 
appeal to the imagination by a fiction. Well, we might 
develop the feeling in this way, but we should thwart 
our purpose. The feeling is to be cultivated, not for 
itself, but for the action to which it prompts. Where 
no action can follow, the feeling passes into the phase 
of sentiment, and a moral condition is induced, the 
very opposite of the one we seek. A state is produced, 
in which distress will excite no condition but a sickly 
sentimentality, without moving a finger in relief. 

Mistake or failure has not the same significance in in- 
tellectual culture as in moral. The intellect is not neces- 
sarily injured by mistaken action, that is by being 
exercised on improper objects. But the case is different 
with the moral feelings. Here loss is all but irretriev- 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 115 

able, while mistaken action is doubtless injurious, and 
may be fatal to moral growth. Sin has a tendency to 
perpetuate itself. Once admitted into the soul the 
stain remains. The mind, astray morally, feels the 
effect of it ever afterwards. Hence to the culture of 
the moral feelings there are obstacles which have been 
created by former states, that do not exist, or in a very 
limited, and certainly not in an insuperable degree, in 
intellectual culture. 

Besides this, there is the fact of original depravity — 
that disturbing element in our moral system which 
renders repugnant to us those objects of the feelings 
and those duties connected therewith which are moral 
and religious ; and to this may be added the constant 
recurrence of temptation to indulgences by the enemy, 
which are destructive of all right feeling and action. 

In this condition of things the cultivation of the 
conscience is the chief corrective of failings in the 
culture of the feelings. The office of conscience being 
to approve or disapprove of particular states, and of 
the actions springing therefrom, its culture implies that 
the mind is informed of that which is legitimate and 
right, so that it may have a standard of judgment, and 
that it is practised continually in deciding on the moral 
quality of feelings and actions, both personal and of 
others. In the absence, then, of a perfect scheme of 
culture, the next best thing in our power is to give to 
conscience its rightful supremacy, by continually fur- 
nishing cases to be decided by the standard of the 
divine word. Nor are the elements wanting of such 
a culture. Considering the position of a child in 
school, the opportunity exists of placing in its mind 



116 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

a right standard on such important points as justice, 
truth, kindness, self-denial, and so on, and to get de- 
cisions of the conscience in respect thereto on the little 
incidents arising out of its daily life. 

A great difhculty in moral culture is in the child 
itself, arising from the emotions of self having heen 
injudiciously stimulated in its earlier years. To so great 
an extent is this sometimes carried by those in charge 
of it, that the child concentrates its regards on itself, 
and only considers its actions as they may affect itself. 
The corrective is, early to divert the attention of the 
child to the effects of its actions on others. It must 
get into the habit of recognising that its own claims in 
every case are limited and modified by the claims of 
others. Supposing this to be effected, it will be com- 
paratively easy to establish a high standard of feeling 
and practice in such things as honesty and truthfulness, 
and to save' from those things which proceed from utter 
regard lessness of the feelings, wishes, or rights of 
others. 

Moral instruction, culture of the feelings, and working 
against the emotions of self, require practice of moral 
duty as that which gives each its force in moral training. 
Those are introductory to this. " See," says Miss 
Mayo, " that they not only acknowledge the principle, 
but that they carry it out in practice, for it is essential, 
besides awakening feelings and instilling principles, to 
cultivate moral habits, and habits are formed by the 
frequent repetition of an action." So again Mr. Dun- 
ning : " The child's character is very much in the 
hands of the teacher, but then more must be done than 
mere teaching Education contemplates 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 117 

the formation of character. But how is character 
formed? Much of it by training, not teaching. A 
teacher cannot lecture a child into good manners, or 
change habits of any kind by the longest speech. The 
physical, intellectual, and moral habits are only changed 
by a repetition of doings, and it is in these doings that 
training consists. Action is the parent of power." 

The course of moral instruction should be both inci- 
dental and formal. The incidents of the schoolroom, 
playground, and street should be made use of to illus- 
trate moral truths and to obtain moral decisions. But 
these occur too irregularly to be relied on altogether. 
The instruction should come at fixed intervals and 
follow a well-defined course. This Society recommends 
a course of three stages, each stage having a special 
purpose, given subjects, and its own mode of treatment. 
" In the first step the object is to awaken the moral 
sense, to cultivate right feelings, and to form good 
habits : leading the children to determine \^ hat is right 
and what is wrong, and preparing them for the recep- 
tion of religious impressions. The lessons should em- 
brace kindness and love of parents and teachers so as 
to awaken affection, the little griefs and joys of their 
companions so as to excite sympathy, and so on. The 
plan in giving the lesson is to lead the children to talk 
about the various actions that fall under their notice, 
with a view to form their moral sense and cultivate 
right feelings, and to make a very simple application 
to themselves. In the second step the object is to 
enable them to distinguish, appreciate, and name moral 
qualities. The subjects embrace duties to parents, 
teachers, brothers and sisters, their companions, the 



118 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

aged, the property of others, and so on. The plan is 
to lead them by observation on their own conduct and 
disposition, or the conduct and disposition of others, 
to form clear conceptions of moral qualities ; or the 
teacher is to give some examples of the exercise of a 
moral quality, and the children decide what it is, and 
learn how it is to be called. They also tell how they 
can exemplify the quality under consideration, and de- 
termine whether it would be right or wrong. In the 
third step the object is to cultivate a quick perception 
and nice discrimination of moral feelings, and to teach 
the terms by which they are expressed. The subjects 
of instruction to be drawn from historical facts, fables, 
poetry, the playground, and proverbs. The story to 
be narrated, the children to determine the merit or 
demerit of the parties spoken of, and the kind and 
degree of faults mentioned in the story, and to state 
what would be their own duty in similar circum- 
stances. 

The principle on which these lessons are conducted 
is to take something as a starting-point from the child's 
experience, or that has come under its observation. 
** The rule is the same," says Mr. Eeynolds, '* in moral 
as in intellectual education. "We must start from 
what is within the child's own experience. We must 
not talk to it of great sacrifices of life or fortune, but 
of the little incidents that occur in the schoolroom 
or playground, in which either good or bad conduct is 
exhibited. If we bring an object before a child, that 
it may by degrees be led to acquire clear ideas on the 
various properties of matter, so we must bring actions 
that he has witnessed before him, that he may be led 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 119 

to form right notions of moral qualities ; to determine 
for himself which are good and which are had ; to trace 
the motives and dispositions wliich lead him to certain 
actions ; and thus prepare him to see and appreciate 
the Christian principles hy which he should he regu- 
lated." 

The power of the teacher's example must not he 
overlooked. ** One of the most powerful auxiliaries in 
the cultivation of character," says Miss Mayo, " is the 
force of example ; children not only imitate what those 
around them do and say, hut involuntarily acquire their 
habits and manners." It should never he absent from 
the teacher's mind that example is stronger than pre- 
cept, and he should fortify himself with those con- 
siderations that show why it is so. Amongst others, 
four have special claims on his remembrance. Example 
is stronger than precept because it conveys truth to 
the mind better than precept does. Often the precept 
is but a form of words until embodied in an example. 
The action conveys to the mind what the precept did 
not. The truth now stands forth in strong light, so 
that there is no mistake as to it. Here example has 
the same value as an experiment in physical science, or 
as a construction in geometry. It exhibits and conveys 
to the mind the meaning underlying the words. Again, 
example is stronger than precept because it makes the 
impression that the precept is obligatory. Where the 
precept is understood, nothing will so strongly recom^ 
mend it as obligatory as seeing another submit to it, 
especially if the other is an adult, and placed in so 
apparently irresponsible a position as a master is. 
Children cannot but feel, if a man consistently does a 



120 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

riglit thing, that he feels its obhgation upon him, and 
especially so if they see it under strong temptations 
to the contrary. But suppose the case where a man's 
example is not according to his precept, then the 
children must feel that, whatever he may say, he cannot 
believe in its obligation. I f he says, " You will find it 
better to do as I say than as I do," they will think him 
either a fool or a knave — a fool in neglecting to do what 
he says interests him so nearly, a knave in pressing 
upon others what he does not do himself Again, 
example is stronger than precept because of the force 
with which sympathy and imitation silently mould the 
character. By sympathy we place ourselves in the cir- 
cumstances, and assume the feelings and actions of 
those around us. This is a force more or less at work 
on us continually. We do not resist except consciously. 
That is, sympathy will operate unless we voluntarily 
and strenuously resist it. But in the case of ordinary 
example, and especially by children, there is no thought 
of resisting ; on the contrary, there is often a great 
deal of interest, and sympathy at once awakes. And 
in those cases where sympathy is impossible, there is a 
strong imitative propensity, and the child copies the 
teacher. Finally, example is stronger than precept 
because in cases of emergency, when called on to act 
at once, it is the example that occurs to the mind, and 
not the precept ; and if it be the example of a father 
or a teacher, its force is irresistible. 

Moral training has a branch that is too often con- 
sidered as something distinct from it. School disci- 
pline is often regarded as merely obtaining order and 
securing attention to work. But others, taking a wider 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 121 

view of their duties, regard it as obligatory upon them to 
do what they can to form in their pupils a right character. 
"With these, discipline is a system of means for enforcing 
right conduct, of correcting bad habits, of lessening the 
force of evil tempers and dispositions, and of eradicating 
anything that would be injurious to the moral and 
intellectual growth of the child. 

Discipline with such aims, is supposed to have its 
sphere in the juvenile rather than in the infant school. 
A nd this is the fact ; the province of the infant school 
is to prevent rather than cure. Or if evil exists either in 
habit or bias, to uproot or change by forming other and 
better habits, or giving another direction to the feel- 
ings and conduct. In this view the whole course of 
infant school training is disciplinary. Exercises 
adopted for other purposes are in fact great moral 
forces. Thus manual exercises, intended for physical 
relief or benefit, have a direct influence in forming the 
habit of obedience, and of establishing the teacher's 
authority. The march, the clap, the rising and sitting 
at command, the loud shout, the low whisper, the 
sudden silence, the cessation of all employment for a 
few minutes, these all help to establish conditions 
highly favourable for more direct moral agencies. 

This being the case, the attention of this Society was 
given to the more direct means of moral training as 
belonging especially to the sphere of infant culture, 
and not to those practices and expedients which are 
found necessary at an older age. Yet, even in infants' 
schools, evils are sometimes found, which the common 
course does not eradicate nor prevent. In such cases 
other nieans must be resorted to, and we are now to 



122 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

inquire what are those practised or recommended by 
the officers of this Society. 

Authority, the right to command, and if necessary 
to enforce obedience, and also the acknowledgment of 
the right in the practices of those subject to it, is 
essential to discipline. One of the first things, if not 
the first, that a teacher has to work for, is the establish- 
ment of his authority. Until this is effected, the 
influences on his children must be wayward and 
capricious, and their progress, morally and intellec- 
tually, fitful and hap hazard. It is not of speedy 
growth. To be lasting, authority must be based on 
influence, and on the ascendency of the teacher's moral 
and intellectual character. But this cannot be attained 
at once. At first the teacher and child are strangers, 
and authority cannot exist. It is true that the child, 
introduced into the sphere of its influence, is affected 
by the tone of his companions, and is predisposed to 
submit; but the personal ascendency of the teacher 
must be a growth, and comparatively a slow one. The 
means to be taken is to acquire influence, and this 
cannot be but by studying the characteristics of children, 
and adapting the treatment thereto. " Those who wish 
to govern by influence, not by force, who desire to govern 
children by means of their will and not against it," 
must make them their study. " Authority," says Mr. 
Dunning, " unquestioned and unlimited authority, is 
the aim, and the means to be made use of is influence. 
In studying the characteristics of child- 
hood, in order to secure an abiding influence over them, 
there are two aspects in which they present themselves, 
which must both be taken into account in order to be 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 123 

successful : the one is, in the general and prominent 
features of a child's character ; and the other is, the 
special peculiarities of its disposition. Now, in order 
to gain ascendency over children in general, we have 
only to attend to a few points. First, children delight 
in the exercise of their opening faculties both of mind 
and body ; next, they have a strong desire for informa- 
tion ; thirdly, they love those who sympathize with 
them and aid them in attaining their objects; and 
fourthly, they have a strong tendency to catch the 
spirit and imitate the action of those they love. It 
follows that all we have to do is to exercise the various 
faculties judiciously and at proper times ; to present new 
facts and new objects in great variety, though not too 
rapidly ; to sympathize with and assist them in all 
their little movements and lawful desires ; and, lastly, 
to show in our own walk a steady, upright conduct, and 
the work is done, they are our bondsmen. But in 
addition to this we must study the child sui generis. 
"What are his peculiarities 1 what feelings are strong, 
what weak 1 what habits has he acquired ? what are 
his likings and dislikings ? Such points being as- 
certained, the teacher will be well prepared to begin his 
work. Begin gradually, and try your authority over 
the child on little points." 

But it is not merely the establishment of his own 
authority, but regard for authority in general that must 
be the teacher's aim. This obtained, that will be 
secured. This may be by giving great prominence to 
the claims of law and rule ; the teacher showing by his 
own conduct that he acknowledges the authority of 
law. It may be furthered by his conduct to the 



124 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

managers of his school. It does not do for one who 
wishes to reign by moral force to act Dr. Busby to his 
managers and employers. The relation between the 
teacher and manager is not unknown, and the children 
cannot but be favourably impressed by proper deference 
on the part of the former to the wishes of the latter. 
It may also be promoted by the mode of his intercourse 
with their parents. Treatment of them with proper 
respect, because they are his children's parents, will 
strengthen the regard for their authority, and conse- 
quently for the authority of the master. 

Punishment is a point of great moment in school 
discipline. It may be laid down as an axiom that 
there can be no government where there is no punish- 
ment. It cannot be but that offences will 3ome, and 
these must be dealt with to prevent their repetition, 
and to produce a moral impression against evil on the 
witnesses. . Still it is to be said that " a school is good 
or bad according to the frequency of the cases de- 
manding punishment. In a good school they are 
seldom required. Where they frequently occur the 
school is a bad one, and the master unfit for his po- 
sition. Especially is this true when the mode of 
punishment is the infliction of bodily pain." In ex- 
tenuation it may be admitted that a master thus acting 
has a strong temptation to do so amidst the many 
claims on his attention, and in view of the fact that 
force may accomplish the immediate end sooner than 
other means ; but still no one who looks merely at pre- 
sent effects, careless of future results, can be considered 
as fit to be entrusted with the education of the young. 

It will ever be the aim of the good schoolmaster so 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 125 

to order his measures as to prevent the necessity of 
punishments. Attention to moral training, finding 
employment for the activity of children, giving free 
scope to their natural characteristics, and banishing 
absurd resti-aints, will lessen the occasions for punish- 
ment. " You will wish to know," says Mr. Ogle, *' by 
what means severe punishments may be prevented. I 
arrange the means under two heads — mental and 

moral There is in the child a love of 

employment for its own sake, and if you do not spoil 
the child you will have him doing much that you 
wish, simply because he loves to be employed ; and if 
you manage well he will take such pleasure in working 
as to have but little disposition to be idle. In every 
case in which the child is punished for not doing 
something that he ought to have done in the way of 
mental exercise, the teacher is more or less to blame. 
There is also implanted in us a love of knowledge, a 
pleasure in knowing what was not known before. You 
will fmd that a child evidently has pleasure in receiving 
knowledge ; he not only feels a pleasure in the employ- 
ment given him while gaining knowledge, but he loves 
the knowledge he gains. Here, then, is a love of 
employment and a love of knowledge to aid the teacher. 
Surely, then, we have here two great means of pre- 
venting punishment Among the moral 

means of preventing punishment are, first, a certain 
personal weight with the children. Some persons 
never have this, but they have themselves to blame for 
the want of it, and if they cannot acquire it they may 
as well give up all attempts to be a teacher. Apart 
from every other motive in a child's mind, this almost 



126 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

insures success. The teacher prevails by a sort of 
weight, with which his influence presses, so to speak, 
on the minds of the children. Every human being 
has a certain weight with, and exerts a force upon 
others. We may wish to do a thing ; but a certain 
person is opposed to it — he is like a solid block in our 
way, and we cannot make up our minds to act against 
his wishes. He has expressed his disapprobation, and 
though, perhaps, he cannot affect us in any degree, we 
do not like to act against it. We hardly reason on the 
matter ; a mere sensation is produced, and this rules us. 
It is very easy to have this personal weight with 
children. It is not always out of love to you that they 
say, * I cannot do so because teacher does not like it.' 
It is not always out of fear of punishment, but because 
the teacher is a great person in the child's estimation. 
There is a certain sense of power and authority in the 
human mind, and if we act on it, we shall prevent 
much insubordination, and so prevent much punish- 
ment. Another means of preventing punishment is 
in the many little bonds which may be formed during 
the personal intercourse between the teacher and 
children, in which the children receive proofs of kind- 
ness and sympathy, and to which they yield affection 
and liking. Another means of preventing those mis- 
deeds which call for pains and penalties is to be our- 
selves what we would have our children to be. This 
is a single rule containing a great quantity of momen- 
tous truth. Do you wish the children to be free from 
irritability, petulance, and peevishness 1 You must be 
80 yourselves. Do you wish them to be interested in 
the lessons so as to profit by them i Then you must 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 127 

Bhow that you are interested in giving them, that you 
know what the application is yourselves. Do you v/ish 
them to be respectful to their superiors, and deferential 
to their equals, their schoolfellows and playmates ? 
Then you must be respectful to your superiors, and 
exhibit a kind and courteous demeanour to all. Without 
your example they will disregard your precept." 

Still, occasions will arise in which punishments must 
be inflicted. Then it becomes necessary to regard the 
spirit in which they are administered. Punishment 
should not be vengeance looking back on the past, but 
hope and love looking forward to the future. The 
measure of punishment, too, must be determined by 
the character of the offender, and not of the offence, 
for it is the child's recovery that is sought, and not the 
expiation of his fault. The punishment, too, must 
vary, according to the temperament and disposition of 
the child. Hence a teacher requires the same kind of 
skill as a physician, who reads in his patient's face the 
specific measures his disease requires. The teacher is 
dealing with moral diseases, and it is as absurd to apply 
one method to every child, as it would be to prescribe 
one measure for every patient. " A frown will act on 
one, separation from companions another, neglect and 
coldness a third, public rebuke a fourth, approbation 
of a companion a fifth, a whipping a sixth." The 
same analogy will show us the folly of expecting 
instantaneous cures. Sudden reform is suspicious. 
Deep-seated and long continued disease cannot be got 
rid of in a moment. The teacher has no more right to 
expect instant cure than a physician would in a case of 
complicated disease. In both cases the treatment is 



128 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

little by little ; the progress of the cure gradual. Con- 
tinuous effort, then, is demanded from the teacher; 
and punishment, when inflicted, must not be to save 
the teacher from annoyance, but to restore the child to 
soundness and health. 

Punishment should be a consequence following mis- 
conduct, and not the prospect of it an inducement to 
do well. Hence threatening should be abstained from. 
" If you tell a boy, ' If you do so and so I will punish 
you,' you take it for granted at the outset that the child 
is disposed to disobey. You should take it for granted 
that he is disposed to obey. The fact is children are, 
in many respects, predisposed to obey. There are the 
bit and the reins, and you have only to take care how 
you use them. If you menace before any offence is 
committed, you tempt the child to try whether you 
will really keep your word, and you introduce into his 
mind the thought of doing a thing he perhaps had 
no idea of doing. You will find menaces produce ill- 
will, and tempt the child to do the very thing you wish 
him not to do." 

Punishments should be light. If they are severe, 
offences will be frequently overlooked, and evil will 
increase. Where they are light there will be freedom 
for promptness in their infliction. It is the certainty 
of punishment, not its severity, that is the most power- 
ful check in wrong- doing. 

On the treatment of obstinate children we have the 
following remarks by Mr. Ogle: — "Avoid bringing the 
obstinacy into action. Every sentiment, faculty and 
habit is strengthened by exercise ; consequently, when- 
ever obstinacy is brought into exercise it is strengthened. 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 129 

The apostle Paul says, 'Fathers, provolie not your chil- 
dren to wrath/ showing us that children may be irritated 
till they do wrong, that the mischief may be begun, for 
instance, by the teacher. It may be asked. How can 
we avoid the provocation to obstinacy in a child '? I 
answer, by habitually endeavouring to keep up in its 
mind that state of feeling which leaves it without incli- 
nation to come into collision with you. Endeavour by 
your own gentleness, kindness, good humour, and pla- 
cidity to produce and promote the same feelings in the 
child. There is a kind of moral contagion among hu- 
man beings ; we catch the spirit and temper of others 
around us ; we are subject to that involuntary entertain- 
ment of the feelings of others which is properly called 
sympathy. Teachers know this by experience. If you 
enter your schoolroom with a countenance betraying 
anxiety and sadness, though you say not a word, you 
will find that the buzz is hushed, inquiring looks meet 
you on every side, and soon a vague sense of distress is 
seen in almost every countenance. This peculiarity of 
our moral constitution God has ordained for wise and 
good ends. "When the minds which act on each other 
are influenced by the Spirit of God, their mutual in- 
fluence produces the most beneficial results. Exhibit, 
then, on all occasions towards your children the same 
dispositions which you would have them evince ; and 
with respect to the obstinate child, in particular, strive 
to foster gentle and kindly feelings in him by exhibit- 
ing them towards him. 

Besides this, however, we must carefully cultivate all 
other sentiments which, being good in themselves, are 
opposed to an evil disposition. And here, too, let the 



130 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

beneficial influence of your example aid the force of 
your precepts. Establish a regard for authority, for 
authority in general, as such, not for your own merely ; 
if you bring your pupil to respect and submit to 
authority in general, he will regard yours in particular 
as a necessary consequence. Especially let that intui- 
tive sense of right and wrong with which man is 
endowed be constantly appealed to ; let it be strength- 
ened by exercise. We are too apt to forget that the 
moral feelings as well as the intellectual faculties and 
bodily powers may be, and need to be, systematically 
exercised ; that, whenever used, they become the more 
ready for use again ; and that by performing acts we 
form habits. Thus conscience enlightened by the word 
of God, may be so disciplined, in early life, as to be- 
come by the Divine blessing habitually tender and 
ready to act. If so cultivated, along with other moral 
feelings, the temptation to obstinacy will often be 
resisted, or the offence, when committed, will be 
repented of and shunned thereafter. 

But it will not be enough to cherish right feelings 
which may counteract the obstinate disposition ; we 
must aim to remove all occasion for its outbreak. To 
this end, let the rules of your school be evidently just 
and reasonable ; as few as practicable, and easy to be 
understood ; let your conduct be consistent and decided ; 
let it be known habitually that your will must be done 
or that the punishment you threaten will be inflicted ; 
bear yourself as if you scarcely supposed that dis- 
obedience would occur, for if we seem to expect it we 
often call it forth. Acting thus you will leave as little 
opportunity and ground as possible for the occur- 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 131 

rence of those scenes which most commonly lead to a 
display of obstinacy. 

By all these means, then, avoid collision with an 
obstinate child. But if, in spite of all your precaution 
and provision for better things, collision is forced upon 
you, for the sake of the offender, and of the discipline 
of the school in general, you must enter on the struggle. 
In carrying it on, again take Scripture for your guide. 
The apostle who forbids fathers to provoke children to 
wrath, adds, " Be not bitter against them ; " and in 
another place says to Christians, " Let all bitterness, 
and wrath, and anger, and clamour, be put away from 
you." " Bitterness." Let the meaning of the word 
be weighed, and we shall surely not be slow to shun 
the thing it means. To abstain from it is certainly the 
duty of a Christian teacher, and never is he more to be 
on his guard against it than when endeavouring to 
overcome the obstinacy of a child. If a little offender 
withstand you, he must, on no account, become 
triumphant ; you must be master. But let neither 
look nor tone nor word express bitterness ; because it 
is both wrong in itself, and will hinder the accomplish- 
ment of your purpose. Eemember once again your 
feelings will influence him; beware that his do not 
influence you. Let no bitterness on your part embitter 
his resentment. If you would control and conquer, 
you must show the dignity of a ruler, not the fury of 
a tyrant ; and the calmness you manifest will actually 
tend to restore the quiet of the culprit. 

This struggle ought not to take place in the presence 
of other children. Many, from a good moral bias, 
will sympathize with you ; many, on the other hand, 



132 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

will feel with their class-fellow. You will see little 
lips compressed, and little bosoms swelling with 
emotions which none dare utter ; thus the order of the 
school is endangered. Whenever it is possible, there- 
fore, withdraw on such an occasion to a separate room 
or to the playground." 

Other modes of influencing children are by rewards 
and praise. Eewards are considered unnecessary and 
injurious. A reward may be considered as having a 
certain intrinsic value, and as being a badge of dis- 
tinction and pre-eminence. Now a reward certainly 
ought not to be proposed for the sake of its intrinsic 
value. There is that in the heart of every child which 
if fully developed becomes covetousness. This sense 
of property and love of possession in general, need no 
increase ; on the contrary, there is constant need to 
repress the greedy desire of gain, a desire which often 
becomes a ruling passion and the source of ruin to its 
subject. Nor should a reward be offered as a mark of 
superiority. Thus proposed, the feeling which is 
appealed to is made the motive of exertion. Love of 
approbation is in itself a pleasurable feeling, but no one 
should seek it for that pleasure no more than he should 
eat simply for the gratification experienced in the act. 
Love of approbation is a natural feeling, and exists in 
sufficient force as an ordinary motive without being 
unduly strengthened by constant appeals to it. In- 
judiciously stimulated, it is apt to become a ruling 
motive, and when it is so the chances are that it will 
be a power for evil rather than good. For its power 
either way will depend on the character of the persons 
whose approval is sought. If that is frivolous or evil, 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 133 

it is likely that the acts done for the sake of their 
approbation will be of like kind. Besides there can be 
no steadiness of character or pursuit where this is the 
motive of conduct. For this will take its force and 
direction, not from any established conviction, but 
from the persons with whom the individual may 
happen to be associated. 

It is further held that rewards are wrong in prin- 
ciple. They are of the nature of bribes. That which 
should be required and enforced as a duty is solicited 
for the sake of the reward. This consideration shows 
also that the only ground on which they can be 
bestowed is the doing of something over and above 
what was the child's duty. It is also held that rewards 
make punishments necessary. As the prospect of 
rewards only influences those that are likely to be suc- 
cessful, the others, who would have worked from 
ordinary motives, these being cast aside, becoming 
careless and idle, need punishment to get them to work 
at all. 

The cultivation of the intelligence, though " con- 
sidered of minor importance " as compared with phy- 
sical and moral training, yet received more elaborate 
attention than either of the others. This, perhaps, 
was due to the nature of the case, as the defects in 
infant training and in school education generally were 
more apparent in the department of intellect than in 
the others. It might also be owing partly to the 
forcing process which yet lingered in infant schools 
— a process to which this Society may be said to have 
given a more legitimate direction rather than to have 
banished from infant culture. 



134 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Adopting the principles of Pestalozzi, this Society's 
work was rather to frame a method for their application 
than to expound them, examine their soundness, or 
ascertain their limits. Hence its largest gifts to infant 
training are its elaborate plans for the cultivation of 
the senses. It is true that they speak of the cultiva- 
tion, not of one, but of all the intellectual faculties. 
But the provision by this Society is for their germ, or 
rudimentary condition only. ISuch powers as concep- 
tion, memory, sense of relation and analogy, and judg- 
ment are brought into early rudimentary exercise in 
connection with the senses, and for their cultivation, so 
far, provision is made. A higher or more advanced 
culture — as that of the conceptive faculty and sense of 
analogy advocated by Isaac Taylor and practised by 
Stow, — whether thought legitimate or not, is certainly 
not attempted. This claim to have provided for the 
cultivation of all the intellectual faculties can be 
received only with this limited interpretation. In fact, 
it is not always clear what is understood by " intellec- 
tual faculty." Sometimes it would seem as if meant 
to imply — with the phrenologists — that a difference in 
the object or in the organ, indicates a different intel- 
lectual power. But this is not true. Lessons addressed 
to the touch do not necessarily differ from lessons ad- 
dressed to the eye, as to the intellectual faculty exercised. 
There is a difference of organ, not one necessarily of 
intellectual power. Every mental element in the one 
act may be precisely that in the other. Of course, with 
a variation of aim, even wheia employing the same 
organ, there may be a change in the nature of the 
mental act. 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 135 

To give employment to the several senses, and to 
bring into activity each intellectual faculty in its rudi- 
mentary state, and recognising thab each has its own 
place in the order of development and activity, courses 
of instruction were prepared in a variety of things. 
Besides common objects, plants, and animals, th^se 
courses embraced colour, form, size, weight and place, 
physical actions and employments, the human body,' 
drawing, and number. The foUowing remarks indicate 
the method. The instruction should be carefully 
graduated, rising step by step from the simplest elements 
to as high a point of difficulty as may be presumed to 
be within the grasp of the infant mind. Principles and 
practices should be presented in immediate connecrion, 
so as to niustrate their mutual dependence. All details 
of practice should flow naturally from the first truths 
on which they are founded. The general object should 
be not the direct impartation of knowledge, but rather 
the cultivarion of mental powers by bringmg them into 
healthy exercise, and the formation thereby of valuable 
mental habits. It is also to be remembered that the 
subjects are to go on side by side. Variety will thus 
be given, and diverse powers of mind be simultaneously 
and progressively developed. The first step in mental 
tuition should be the education of the senses and 
their organs. Where this is judiciously ca.rried out, 
the mind will be furnished with clear and distinct 
ideas, without the risk of its being overstrained. 

*' The office of the senses," says Miss Mayo, ''is to 
store the mind with ideas. The medium must be by 
real tangible objects. The first exercises should begin 
with miscellaneous objects, though not altogether with- 



136 SYSTEMS OF EDUCA.TION. 

out arrangement, as a definite aim ouglit to be pro- 
posed in every lesson." Object lessons hence supply 
what is natural for the child to learn. An infant's 
first impressions are from objects, and its first know- 
ledge about them. At first but a passive recipient of 
impressions, he soon comes to take an active part in 
learning their various qualities. This goes on in a 
desultory way all through infancy. In the object 
lesson this natural tendency is utilized, and the child 
is judiciously and systematically directed in the em- 
ployment of its senses. Thus object lessons educate 
the senses, — they stimulate the power of observation, 
and they help to form the habit of accurately doing so. 
Without cultivation obvious qualities often escape 
notice, and a superficial mode of looking at things is the 
consequence. 

Object dessons, besides cultivating the senses, lay up 
material for reflection. This latter habit is always the 
more valuable when it is based on the habit of obser- 
vation. Rightly conducted, a habit of reflection will 
be cultivated alongside that of observation. No facts 
coming under the cognizance of the senses are isolated ; 
all are related to others. Some of these facts are 
obvious ; others only to be discovered by comparison, ex- 
periment, or other modes of inquiry. In a good object 
lesson, that which lies immediately under observation 
will be used as a stepping-stone to that which is less 
apparent. This lays the foundation of reflection, and 
to a habit of not resting in the superficial, but of 
tracing out connections between related facts. 

Object lessons give an intelligent use of language, 
and add to its stores. The idea is gained, and then 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 137 

tlie word is given. Thus the idea is fixed, and the 
word makes it readier for use. And it is easy to see 
how ; for here is a twofold force by which the idea 
becomes ready for use. The idea has its associations 
with others had previously or at the same time, and 
when these appear that will appear too ; but attaching 
it to a word brings in the physical element of speech, 
and here is another though mysterious agent for re- 
calling the idea when wanted, and for employing it. 
Words thus obtained will be used significantly, and 
will become powers for further observation and addi- 
tional acquisitions. 

The method of these lessons must be that of stimu- 
lating the children to discover the qualities for them- 
selves. The teacher must not come as it were between 
the object and the children, by his language or mode 
of dealing with it. It is not by the words he puts 
into their mouths, but by the tact with which he 
stimulates and directs their senses, that the purpose of 
the object lesson is attained. They must hear, see, 
and touch, and not depend for the facts either on him 
or their companions. This is a point requiring con- 
stant care, from neglect of which the object lesson too 
often degenerates into mere word-stringing. 

It is recommended that the lessons be given in a 
graduated and progressive course. The age of the 
children should be considered, and their previous op- 
portunities and training. As a first step with young 
children, it will be sufficient to take the most familiar 
objects, to distinguish and name them, to elicit their 
uses, and where usually seen. A second step would be 
to lead to the perception of quality, but not to give it 



138 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

expression, except in the case of the term being familiar. 
As a further advance when the children are prepared 
for it, two objects should be introduced as subjects of 
the lesson ; one of them chosen to lead to the obser- 
vation of parts, the other to develop some striking or 
characteristic quality. With these views an object is 
presented, having distinct and well-defined parts — as a 
knife, — that the children may discover the parts, and 
learn to apply the correct names ; also another object 
is chosen, exhibiting in a remarkable degree some par- 
ticular quality — as transparency in glass, — that the 
idea of the quality may be developed. As a test that 
the idea has been gained, the children are to find ex- 
amples of the same quality in other objects. At this 
stage the children may be aided to remember what 
they learn, and to arrange it somewhat methodically, if 
the first letter of the word naming a part or a quality 
is written on the black-board. As the children ad- 
vance in power, they must be led not only to discover 
the qualities of objects, but also the purpose for which 
they fit the object. ,They must also be practised in 
deciding by which of the senses they have become 
acquainted with a quality, and what organ they exer- 
cised. They are also to be led to see that there are 
some qualities not recognised by the senses, but only 
Anown from experience or by the exercise of judgment. 
And as a final step, they are to be led to compare 
objects, to discover points of resemblance or dissi- 
milarity. 

During this course the children as early as possible 
should be set to write on slates what they can remember 
of their lessons, — a practice which accomplishes several 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 139 

good purposes : it is a motive to attention ; it serves to 
fix the ideas in the mind ; it accustoms the children 
to orderly arrangement and expression ; and it is a 
good exercise in spelling. 

It is recommended that, in connection with the 
later stages, the derivation of the chief terms employed 
should be given ; but how this belongs to observation, 
or tends to quicken the organs of sense, or comes 
within the province of intuition, is not shown. 

Lessons on shells, plants, and animals, extend the 
range and purpose of object lessons. Those on animals, 
especially, have all the advantages of such lessons en- 
hanced by the interest they awaken, and by the oppor- 
tunities they give of comparison, of tracinir cause and 
effect, and of drawing inferences and conclusions from 
facts. The interest such lessons excite quickens atten- 
tion, and causes observation to be more minute and 
careful. Such lessons, too, have a moral value in en- 
couraging feelings of kindness and in preventing cruelty, 
much of what is so in the treatment of the lower 
animals by children being the offspring of ignorance. 
They have also a religious value, by awakening feelings 
of admiration and reverence under the manifestations 
of wisdom and goodness which are continually made 
apparent to them. 

" The right principle," says Mr. Tegetmeier, «to be 
followed in lessons on animals is this, — lead the child- 
ren to see the intimate connection between the habits 
of an animal, its propensities, and its formation ; how 
an animal is so formed that it can with ease procure 
the food necessary to its existence, and also the wisdom 
of God in adapting its different organs to its habitation 



140 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

and mode of life. This principle may be carried out 
by two plaiis. Either the animal or its picture may 
be brought before the children, and they may be called 
upon to observe its formation, and from considering its 
form and structure may be led to the consideration of 
its habits and mode of life ; or their attention may be 
first directed to its habits, mode of life, food, and then 
to its appearance and structure. Suppose, for example, 
the common domestic cat be taken as the subject of 
the lesson : On the first plan, the children would be 
required to observe all the parts of the animal, as its 
sharp teeth and sheathing claws, its cushioned feet and 
flexible limbs ; and from them they would be led to a 
consideration of its habits and food. On the second plan, 
the attention of the children would be first directed to 
the habits of the cat, its noiseless step and bounding 
movements, to its destructive appetite, its food, &c. ; 
and then they would be led to observe its powerful 
teeth and sharp retractile claws, its elastic motion and 
cushioned feet, and readily perceive that these parts 
were given to the animal in order that it might perform 
the actions described, and secure the food necessary to 
its existence. This second plan is decidedly the best. 
The interest is first excited, and the attention com- 
manded by a description of the animal or anecdotes 
respecting its mode of life, and then the hearers are ready 
and anxious to find out the means by which it executes 
these various actions, and procures its requisite food. 
Again, this second plan is the most natural, for a child 
proceeds from what is best known to what is unknown ; 
the habits of every animal are better known to children 
than their structure." In pursuing this plan the 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 141 

lesson will fail to awaken due interest, and will become 
formal, if attention is directed first to one series of 
facts, and then, when these are exhausted, to the other. 
A better plan is to take one fact and find the corre- 
sponding fitness in structure, then another, and so on. 

Colour and Form hold a distinct place among the 
means of cultivating the habit of observation. Not 
without reason. They are two qualities of objects to 
which attention is continually directed, anii which 
give material aid to the forming and fixing of accurate 
ideas. They also serve to prepare the children for 
lessons, in which pictures and diagrams are employed as 
mediums of instruction. 

Colour early attracts the attention of the child, and 
on this account has claims to an early use in infant 
training. But it has other claims. " Colour," quoted 
in the Society's Manual, from Redgrave, '* gives to the 
world of form beauty and ornament ; it also assists us 
to distinguish form ; it aids us to determine distance 
and space, and enables the eye more readily to separate 
objects and parts of objects from each other." '* Colour," 
says Miss Mayo, "is a subject intimately connected 
with the consideration of objects, and a series of very 
interesting lessons might be formed upon it. First, a 
colour should be exhibited to the children, and when 
the idea of the particular colour is thus formed in their 
minds, they should be taught, secondly, to connect the 
right name with it. The next step should be the call- 
ing upon them to mention what they see before them 
of that colour, so that their sight may be well exer- 
cised in discriminating the one learnt from others. 
Next they should be required to name objects, from 



142 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

recollection, of the colour in question, — this will tend 
to form the abstract idea, and will also furnish the 
teacher with an opportunity of cultivating accuracy of 

ohservation and propriety of expression 

For the commencing lessons on Colour, a few wafers on 
a card will be sufficient, one being added when a new 
colour is brought before their view. When they are 
learning the various shades, they should have them, 
painted on slips of card, which should be kept as 
standards to be referred to ; also the proper names for 
each should be learnt, as apple-green, grass-green, &c. 
Whenever they receive a lesson on flowers, or stones, or 
any other coloured object, they should be called upon 
to determine its precise hue. A cake of each of the 
primitive colours, red, blue, and yellow, might be kept 
in the school, and it could be made evident to them 
how all other colours may be produced by their combi- 
nation in different proportions. It is not sufficient 
that they are simply shown two colours, and then told 
what they will produce if mixed together. This kind 
of instruction is of little or no value, for the knowledge 
of the fact is but of small importance to the children ; 
it is the having called out their observation upon it ; 
it is the habit formed, and the exercise given, that 
constitute the real value of the lesson, and this is a 
point but too little understood by teachers." 

The graduated course adopted by the Society, is in 
harmony with these views. 

1st Step. — Exercise ohservation on several colours in 
succession, names being withheld, (a) A pattern colour 
to be shown, a child to select one like it, others to 
determine if it is right, and both placed side by side. 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 143 

(5) A coloured card to be taken, and a child to find 
one like it on the board, (c) Colours to be placed in 
a row, then a child to arrange others in the same order. 
The colours selected at this step should be opposed in 
character. 

2nd Step. — To associate names with the colours learnt. 
Terms fix ideas, and render them available in inter- 
course with others, (a) A colour to be selected, and 
another like it to be found, the name is then to b". 
given, and repeated by the class, {h) The teacher is 
to name a colour, the child is to find it, and all others 
like it. (c) The teacher is to point to a colour and 
ask its name, {d) Coloured beads are to be threaded — 
(1) according to a pattern shown, (2) under direction 
by naming the colours. The principles to be borne in 
mind by the teacher at this step are, that the children 
are to be guided to the attainment of clear and distinct 
ideas ; that they are made to feel the need of a term to 
give them clear and definite expression ; and that 
proof is to be given that the name suggests the idea, 
and that the object recalls the name. 

^rd Step. — To strengthen the power of observation ; 
to cultivate increased accuracy and facility in expression, 
and to draw out the faculty of conception hy reference 
to objects not actually present. (a) A colour is to be 
shown and its name required, (b) Others like it are 
to be selected by the children. (c) Things in the 
room of the same colour are to be sought and named. 
(d) Things of the same colour, not present, are to be 
asked for. 

4:th Step.— To develop idea of shades and tints, and 
to cultivate nicety of discrimination on these points. 



144 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

(a) A colour is to be shown, then a dark and light 
shade of the same colour are to be placed near it. (h) 
The terms dark and light are to be used to distinguish 
these shades, as dark blue, light blue. (c) Practice is 
to be given in arranging colours according to their in- 
tensity. A. normal colour is to be selected, then all 
darker than it ; these are next to be arranged according 
to the degree of intensity, and the class informed that 
these are shades, (d) All colours lighter than the 
standard are to be selected and arranged, and the 
children told that these are tints. As a final step, the 
children are to observe that no colour is obtained with- 
out light, that darkness destroys colour. 

As a property of objects, Form has claims on the 
trainer of infants. Doubtless it may be made to yield 
a higher culture to riper years, but this is its legitimate 
office in infgoit training. As a means of culture, it is 
of higher value than colour, partly because of the 
greater complexity in the act of perception, and partly 
because of the greater distinctness with which it can 
be recalled in idea. In consequence, too, of the greater 
adhesiveness of form, comparison may be instituted of 
forms now present, with others held in the mind, 
and thus a severer mental effort may be secured than 
when all the objects examined are present. It becomes 
also, under proper guidance, a powerful aid to dis- 
crimination. Among the endless diversities of forms 
found in surrounding things, likeness presents itself 
amidst dissimilarity, and may be seized upon, and 
separated by an eye in search of likeness amidst adver- 
sity. With such a purpose as this, judiciously pursued, 
a power is at length created, than which few things 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 145 

could be so beneficial to the intellectual life and activity 
of the child. Scarcely an object can then come under 
its notice but it will at once discern, and mentally 
separate triangles, rectangles, circles, cylinders, cubes, 
and other forms, to perceive which its eye has been 
educated and the habit given. From such considera- 
tions it becomes evident that Form should hold no 
secondary place in infant training. This Society 
attaches much importance to it, and has published an 
elaborate course of lessons in relation thereto. 

Lessons on Size and Weight form the complement 
to the other means of training the senses. Besides 
bringing into play the muscular sense, and causing 
attention to be fixed on personal states as indications 
of external conditions, they present the opportunity of 
making children acquainted with the actual standard 
weights and measures of the country. Thus a founda- 
tion is laid for their intelligent use at a later school 
stage. 

Few things connected with early instruction exhibit 
the value of Pestalozzian principles, in their right 
sphere, more than their application to number and 
numerical operations. So long had arithmetic in its 
first operations been by rote, and in its later stages by 
rule, that it would seem as if an intelligent mode of 
approaching it and studying it would never be. In no 
other subject of instruction, except perhaps grammar, 
did it seem to be so completely a truism that any dis- 
ciplinary value of the study must not, if obtained at 
all, be so until either the pupil was engaged in the 
afiairs of business, or had made such progress that he 
could work a few problems which implied at least some 

L 



146 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

insight into the rationale of his subject. It is true 
that Ward had exhibited a method, the same as was 
afterwards applied by Pestalozzi and his followers, of 
intelligently teaching it. But it had not borne fruit. 
iN'or can it be said that its subsequent revival by the 
spread of Pestalozzian principles has secured for it 
anything like universal adoption. It is to be feared 
that many yet have no faith in its soundness, while 
more eitlier cannot give the time, or will not undertake 
the labour that it requires. Yet in many a well-con- 
ducted school the method has been applied with success, 
and even with infants a way has been shown of making 
it a means of developing and cultivating faculties, 
which but for it would be dormant till a later period. 

The following exposition by Mr. Dunning sets forth 
the ground occupied and the practices commended by 
this society : — " Arithmetic is a subject which, if pro- 
perly treated, can hardly be overrated in its utility as 
an instrument of mental culture, and in its importance 
to the business of life. It is also the subject I would 
choose to illustrate some of the finest principles of 
Pestalozzi. Indeed, we are told that the ability which 
his pupils displayed on this subject, especially on 
mental arithmetic, was one of the chief means by 
which the notice of the public was attracted to his 
experiments. 

" Arithmetic is a powerful means of developing and 
strengthening several powers of the mind : for instance, 
it promotes concentrated and sustained attention : the 
processes of mental arithmetic improve the memory, or 
rather, what we may call tenacity of mind, by requiring 
the question to be remembered whilst the answer is 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 147 

being discovered ; by requiring the several numbers to 
be retained in tlie mind whilst they are being worked ; 
and the mind to hold the distant links of a chain whilst 
engaged with those nearer. It also affords early and 
appropriate exercise for the judgment ; it cultivates the 
powers of abstraction and generalization, and furnishes 
ground on which the reasoning powers may first be 
called into exercise. 

" Arithmetic is also valuable from the habits of mind 
which it induces, as accuracy, activity and readiness, 
clearness and precision; and the habit of forming 
correct and precise judgments on one subject prepares 
the mind to form similar judgments on others, and thus 
the mind is educated. In a moral point of view also 
it acts beneficially, for the habit of making correct and 
accurate statements promotes the love of truth. Weak 
characters are often false because their intellectual 
vision is indistinct, but those who are accustomed to 
the precision that arithmetical calculations require, and 
have been trained to habits of comparison, fixedness of 
attention, and searching for truth, are likely to carry 
such habits and principles into their moral dealings ; 
at least, they will be better prepared to receive the 
moral lessons of the Christian educator. 

" Arithmetic, too, has advantages above every other 
study ; it affords the teacher the opportunity of judging 
whether the pupils have really and effectively been at 
work, from the certainty of its results. They must be 
either right or wrong without dispute ; he is able also 
to estimate the amount of work done, and he can 
superintend more individual efforts at this than at 
almost any other lesson. Again, no study affords th3 



148 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

teacher a better opportunity of carrying out right prin- 
ciples of teaching, such as making the child work, and 
not the teacher, leading the pupil from what he knows 
to the proximate truth, and thus carry out the principle 
of proceeding from the known to the unknown, from 
the simple to the complex, from the particular to the 
general, from the example to the rule." 

Arithmetic should be taught early. Dr. Mayo 
observes, " the obvious connection with the circum- 
stances surrounding the child, the simplicity of its 
data, the clearness and certainty of its processes, the 
neatness and indisputable correctness of its results, 
show how well it is adapted both for the young and 
for minds of limited structure." There is, however, no 
subject in which, in the first step particularly, it is more 
important that the teacher should exercisB patience, and 
endeavour to throw himself into the mind of the child, 
and actually realize to himself what is going on within 
the little ])eing whom he is instructing ; for whilst 
arithmetic is the simplest of all sciences, it is possessed 
of its peculiar difficulties, and these present themselves 
especially at first starting ; and although it is true that 
conquering difficulties is the very means by which 
tone and vigour are given to the mind of a child, yet 
these difficulties should not be too great, — his way 
should be smoothed, and he should be encouraged and 
stimulated gradually to ascend the hill. 

On this point De Morgan well observes, " It is a 
very common notion that this subject is easy ; that is, 
a child is called stupid who does not receive his first 
notions of number with facility ; this, we are convinced, 
is a mistake. Were it otherwise, savage nations would 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 149 

acquire a numeration and a power of using it, at least 
proportional to their actual wants, which is not the case. 
Is the mind by nature nearer the use of its powers than 
the bodyl If not, let parents consider how many 
efforts are unsuccessfully made before a single articu- 
late sound is produced, and how imperfectly it is done 
after all, and let them extend the same indulgence, and 
if they will, the same admiration to the rude essays 
of the thinking faculty, which they are so ready to 
bestow upon those of the speaking power. Unfor- 
tunately the two cases are not equally interesting ; the 
first attempts of the infant in arms to pronounce ' Papa ' 
and ' Mamma,' though as much like one language aa 
another, are received with exultation as the promise of 
a future Demosthenes ; but the subsequent discoveries 
of the little arithmetician, such as that six and four 
make thirteen, eight, seven — anything but ten, — far 
from giving visions of the Lucasian or Savilian chairs, 
are considered tiresome, and are frequently rewarded 
with charges of stupidity or inattention. In the first 
case the child is teaching himself by imitation and 
always succeeds ; in the secoTid, it is the parent or 
teacher who instructs, and who does not always succeed, or 
deserve to succeed. Irritated or wearied by this failure, 
little manifestations of temper often take the place of 
the gentle tone with which the lesson commenced, 
by which the child, whose perception of such a change 
is very acute, is thoroughly cowed and discouraged, 
and left to believe that the fault was his own, when it 
really was that of his instructor." 

" Having endeavoured to set forth the importance of 
arithmetic, the next point is the plan to be pursued in 



150 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

teaching it. The best tool may fail to do its work in 
an unskilful hand ; and so, excellent as arithmetic un- 
doubtedly is, if not properly treated, it will not accom- 
plish the task we have assigned it. 

" Some commence their instruction in arithmetic by 
teaching numeration, i. e., calling out in succession the 
first hundred numbers, and, in order to enliven the 
exercise by a little variety, it is often accompanied by 
a sort of chant, or motions of the legs and arms. 

" Others commence with abstract numbers , and almost 
all begin with the operations of arithmetic, without 
making the child first acquainted with the idea of the 
numbers themselves. Further, they make the child 
first learn the mechanical rule, and then perform exer- 
cises, without attempting to show the reason of the 
rule : the time of the child is mainly devoted to cipher- 
ing, where he is trammelled by the signs, and can 
neither see the connection of the different parts of the 
process he is working, nor trace the relation between 
the end in view and the means adopted. Perhaps the 
following remarks may assist us in discovering the un- 
philosophical character of such methods. 

^' 1. It is by means of the senses that a child acquires 
his first ideas, and amongst these the idea of numbers ; 
and, therefore, objects should be used in the first lessons 
in arithmetic. 

" 2. The abstract idea of numbers is acquired by ap- 
plying the same number to a great variety of objects ; 
therefore the child should see it applied, not to one 
object only, but to many. 

" 3. Operations in arithmetic, performed intelligently, 
require a knowledge of the numbers employed in the 



HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 151 

operation ; therefore, before the child begins any of 
the operations, he should be well acquainted with the 
values of the numbers with which he has to work. 

" 4. From observation and experience we find that 
when a child is left to the dictates of nature, his first 
operations in arithmetic, like his first ideas of number, 
are applied to objects ; and that when the Arabic 
numerals are introduced early, they are found to puzzle 
the pupil, and make him much longer in acquiring 
correct ideas of the properties of numbers and their 
relations than he otherwise would be ; therefore he 
should be helped by objects, such as the ball frame, 
in his first attempts to work numbers, and should have 
mental practice before he begins ciphering. 

" 5. Whilst it very seldom happens that a pupil under- 
stands a practical example the better for learning a 
rule in abstract terms, he always understands a rule or 
principle more easily from first performing practical 
examples ; therefore he should be led to discover the 
rule or principle after he has worked many examples 
in it." 

The following is the graduated course of instruction 
in arithmetic adopted by this Society for very youug 
children : — 

In the first step the child obtains his idea of number 
from visible objects. There is no attemjDt to teach the 
combinations till the simple idea is clearly compre- 
hended. In giving the simple idea objects are used, 
because the child never sees number apart from objects, 
and his mind is not sufficiently opened to understand 
numbers presented to him abstractedly. The practice 
of making a young child repeat the words one, twoj 



152 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

three, ^c, in succession, before the idea of number is 
first formed in his mind, which is called teaching it 
to count, will not enable it to form correct ideas of 
numbers ; he cannot do this until he sees the number 
itself applied to things, as two hands, two feet, two 
balls, &c. That the child vndiy get the abstract idea, 
and be prevented from imagining that what he is doiug 
has some connection with one set of objects which it 
has not with another, its attention is directed to a 
variety of objects ; and the objects selected are familiar 
to the child, that his attention may not be distracted 
by what is strange to him. At first, also, low numbers, 
not higher than ten, are taken. To such terms as 
million, thousand, or even hundred, a young child can 
attach no correct idea, and, consequently, is put in 
possession of words only. Ample time and abundant 
variety of exercises are given to the child on this first 
step. Too much pains can scarcely be taken to render 
this, the first step, secure. Every means that can be 
devised should be taken to fix the children's attention, 
to accustom them to reflect, and to give them an ac- 
curate idea of the v alue of numbers. Care should, at 
the same time, be taken to keep up the interest of 
the children by varying the form or subject of the 
questions. 

Second Step. — When the children have clear ideas 
of the first ten numbers, they commence operations 
with them in addition, and afterwards in all the simple 
rules in succession. The balls are continued in teaching 
the various processes, on the same principle that objects 
were at first used. The attention of the children, how- 
ever, is confined to one sort of objects, as the abstract 



HOME A.ND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. 153 

idea of number is now familiar. Addition and sub- 
traction are not at first brought together, as one pro- 
cess at a time is sufficient for the mind of a child. 
"When a child has a clear idea how to add, and can do so 
with tolerable facility, and when he also understands how 
to subtract, and can do so pretty well, the two operations 
may be carried on in the same lesson; and after adding 
by one number he may subtract by the same ; and this 
will lead him to a clearer perception of the two opposite 
processes. It is found better at first not to puzzle the 
child by a variety of operations, but to commence with 
those easiest, and to exercise him by increasing his 
difficulties in the same operation by higher numbers, 
never exceeding ten. When the child has arrived at 
the limit of his power in one process, then another is 
introduced and proceeded with in like manner, then the 
processes that have been learnt are alternately applied. 

The children learn the operation with the ball-frame 
that they may have a clear idea of it; but they should 
gradually learn to calculate mentally, that the mind 
may acquire power. To effect this the ball-frame is 
removed, and the children called upon to repeat a 
process which they have just carried on with it. 
Questions also on absent objects are proposed, and 
promiscuous questions given, the ball-frame being 
referred to, to correct any mistake made. On this plan 
observation is first exercised, then conception, and 
lastly abstraction. 

Third Step. — The same exercises that constituted 
the second step, with a little variety, and extending 
the numbers to twenty, are gone over in this step, but 
without any reference to the ball-frame, except for the 



154j systems of education. 

correction of mistakes. For the cliildren should not 
now receive assistance from objects, that the operations 
may become purely intellectual, and therefore more con- 
ducive to improvement. 

Fourth Step. — In addition to extended exercises in 
mental calculation, in the four fundamental rules they 
are introduced to a decimal system of numeration, and 
to signs and definitions. 

The decimal system of numeration is taught as high 
as one hundred, that the children may be prepared for 
calculations involving higher numbers. The classifi- 
cation of numbers into tens, and the use made of the 
first ten names in desifrnating the succeeding numbers 
shown. In this exercise the ball-frame is used. The 
multiplication table is also thoroughly learned. For 
"ordinary purposes it is necessary to be able to calculate 
quickly and readily, and a perfect knowledge of the 
tables facilitates this. 

The pupils being thus familiar with numbers, and 
next taught how to represent them by figures, and also 
the signs of addition and the other rules, they are also 
taught to form regular definitions, both of the rules 
and the various terms used in these calculations, that 
their ideas on the subject may be made more precise ; 
and of the language of arithmetic. 

Section IV. — Kindergarten System. 

Amongst those who have tried to reduce to system, 
and to put into practical shape Pestalozzi's great prin. 
ciple, Frederick Frobel holds no mean place. To hini 
is due a system of infant training which has taken root 



KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM. 155 

extensively in Germany, and which has been winning 
its way in this country during a quarter of a century. 
Erobel, the son of a village pastor in Thuringia, after 
his education under his parents' roof, found his way 
to Switzerland and became a pupil under Pestalozzi. 
Subsequently he did service in a scliool at Frankfort. 
Called away from this by the troubles of the times, he, 
like many others, was found fighting for the fatherland. 
When peace came he was appointed Inspector to the 
Mineralogical Museum, Berlin. But this employment 
could not satisfy a nature like his, in which had 
taken deep root the desire to live for the good of 
others. He gave up his office and became a school- 
master. He was content with a very humble position 
— a small village school in Thuringia. Here he la- 
boured, earnestly striving to realize the principle of 
harmoniously developing all the faculties of body and 
mind of those under his care. 

It was not till he was thus cast on his own resources 
that he got a glimmering of what this great principle 
embodies, l^or was he aware till now of the almost 
insuperable difficulties which the errors in previous 
training throw in the way of carrying it out in school. 
Children came to him twisted and gnarled, making it 
impossible to train them as he wished. Thus he came 
to see the importance of early training, and to form 
the design of devoting his life to its improvement. 

He began in the right way. In the cottages around 
him were children in all stages of infancy and childhood. 
He set himself to observe them, and to make himself 
acquainted with their characteristics. He found these 
marks. There is great physical activity, a force from 



156 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

within, partly mental, partly vital, leading to incessant 
action. Associated with this and springing from it is 
a strong craving for employment. There is, too, an 
assthetic tendency which makes the child susceptible 
of pleasurable emotions from light, colour, sound, and 
form. There is also great inquisitiveness, shown by 
constant experiment on objects with hands and lips — 
a curiosity often leading to the breaking of toys, to 
discover something which the child wishes to know. 
Growing, the child shows greater mental activity, 
which manifests itself in occupations of an inventive 
kind. In the absence of anything better, he places 
himself in the gutter and forms mud pies, or erects a 
dyke and makes a lake. In the operations now carried 
on there is manifested by snatches of speech, or frag- 
ments of conversation, the presence of some predomi- 
nating fancy, which while the hands are trying to give 
form to some intellectual conception, soars above it all, 
and invests the works of its hands with imaginary 
attributes, or makes them partners in a little drama, in 
which the child is chief performer. They have also 
sympathy and a strong social instinct, which leads 
them to prefer acting with companions of their own 
age. And there is great plajrfulness, " turning to mirth 
all things of earth," " pleased with a fancy, tickled 
with a straw." 

The child having revealed itself in these aspects, 
Frobel set himself the task of elaborating a system 
which would give free scope for their activity and make 
them the means of developing its powers. To the 
result he gave the name hinder g art en. In this name 
are embodied the two prime principles which should 



KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM. 157 

guide and control early training. The atmosphere ot 
the child's life should be one of happiness, pleasure, 
joy, beauty, and occupation ; and the child should be 
treated as a gardener treats a plant ; it should be sur- 
rounded with all the conditions necessary to the growth 
of its susceptibilities and powers, with no other inter- 
ference than such as will remove hindrances, prevent 
warping, and secure judicious guidance. 

Having formed his system and framed his plans, 
leaving his schools in the hands of a relative, he did in 
Germany what Wilderspin was doing in England, he 
travelled from place to place lecturing, and inducing 
others to establish kindergarten schools. The first 
opened in England was in 1851, by Johann and Bertha 
Rouge. It now forms a part of the system of training 
in nearly all the colleges for the training of school- 
mistresses. 

The apparatus for a kindergarten is very simple. 
It consists of a series of " gifts," which range in an 
ascending order. The first consists of coloured worsted 
balls, and the second of a cube, a ball, and a cylinder. 
These form the babies' portion. They amuse and they 
instruct. They gratify the desire to be doing. They 
are play, but it is play with a purpose. Using them 
under guidance the child becomes an accurate observer. 
It not only acquaints itself with their forms and 
qualities, but it is led to observe actions. Eor instance, 
whirling a ball, it is directed to notice the curve ; then 
shortening the string, it sees that the circle becomes 
smaller. A notable feature is the accompaniment of 
these actions. It is taught to describe them in infantile 
speech — now a word, then a phrase or a sentence, 



158 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

assisted by the sympathy and voice of the teacher, just 
as a mother would when amusing her babe. How 
great an improvement is this on the jargon and learned 
stilts of the earlier infant schools ! 

Gifts three and four consist of small cubes and 
squares. They furnish a series of exercises well adapted 
to the first period of infant school life. These are 
of four kinds — forms of utility, artistic forms, geome- 
trical forms, and first lessons in number. Left to use 
his cubes as he pleases, the child in handling them 
and building with them will at length come to notice 
that each has the same form, number of faces, edges, 
and corners. He will also learn the right meaning of 
many words, chiefly relating to position. Every day 
he will find something new. He will vary his forms. 
So long as he is happy it is best not to interfere. 
When the teacher does, it may be in one of two ways : 
by one or two examples, not for them to copy, but to 
suggest; and by naming subjects according to the 
advancing power of the pupils, from grandma's chair, 
a gate, a house, a church, a monument, to the planning 
of a garden or of a village. A more important work 
falls on the teacher. Taking advantage of the ten- 
dency to invest objects with imaginary attributes, the 
teacher should improvise little stories, which will assist 
the little ones to express their ideas, give stimulus to 
their fancy, awaken kindly feeling, and convey in- 
formation. This series of exercises, besides calling forth 
invention and fancy, will give the child a motive 
to observe, and many an object will receive attention, 
and afterwards be reproduced in school. The artistic 
and geometrical series should proceed carefully from the 



KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM, 159 

simplest forms. When the child has made some 
progress, then let it invent as many as possible. When 
a very beautiful form has been invented, let the atten- 
tion of all be directed to it. Lessons in mimher should 
begin by forming the cubes into groups of twos, threes, 
and so on. Then with these groups addition and 
subtraction should be performed. Then as the groups 
are series of equal numbers, multiplication and division 
may be acquired. One series of groups should be well 
mastered before proceeding with another. It is recom- 
mended that these operations shall be conducted by 
the class marching round the table on which the cubes 
are displayed, and singing. To these exercises with 
gifts three and four might be joined, as some skill was 
attained, the lath practice and drawing. Provide pieces 
of smooth tough wood, seven inches long, half an inch 
wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. With these 
you can vary the lessons on form, and prepare for first 
lessons in reading. One piece given to each child 
would be used to show the varieties of position which 
might be given to a line. Two pieces would enable it 
to form several devices, and when the forms X T Y 
appear a sheet of letters may be shown, and the child 
invited to discover those most nearly resembling them. 
Three pieces would extend the area of design, and 
admit of more letters. This exercise may be followed 
with advantage by drawing. A chalk crayon and a 
slate should be given to each child, and it should try 
to produce with these the forms it has made with the 
laths. 

Gifts five and six are simply means of extending the 
exercises hitherto given. They will be found suitable 



160 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

for the second period of infant school life. They con- 
tain a greater number and larger variety of pieces. By 
means of sections of the cube triangular pieces occur, 
and other forms, and prisms are added. With these 
more complicated structures are possible, and a larger 
demand is made on the inventive faculty. The first 
course leaves the children to themselves ; but when 
they have exhausted their own resources, it is suggested 
that the teacher shall take her boys and build up before 
them, confining each lesson to one building. During 
this process she is to make such observations as she 
may think called for ; and when the building is com- 
plete, she is to tell some pleasing story in connection 
with it. Of course these gifts offer the means of larger 
culture in form ; and to extend this culture, and to 
carry still further the preparatory lessons for reading 
and in drawing, more laths might be employed. If 
the teacher is so minded, the variety of forms in these 
gifts furnish the opportunity for lessons on angles, sur- 
faces, and solids ; and they also furnish the means for 
an extended course of numbers, fractional parts being 
shown and operations on them performed, but taking 
care that nothing is demanded from the child but what 
is grouped before his eye. 

The most advanced course is the best recommenda- 
tion of the preceding stages. It presents sufficient 
variety of employment, each step preparing for the 
next and higher one. Exercises with cards of different 
colours and shapes impart and develop taste in the 
arrangement and design both of form and colour. 
Stick-laying enlarges the area for culture of form. 
Pea-work introduces outline forms of building and of 



KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM. 161 

other things, sticks teing united by means of peas. 
Coloured sti'ips of paper are employed in plaiting, by 
means of which great scope is given for taste in the 
blending of colours, and in the design and arrangement 
of patterns. The process of culture goes on in paper- 
cutting and in perforating cardboards, and it is con- 
summated by modelling in clay. 

Eeading is to be taught on the same principle as 
other things. The child must do and invent. A box 
containing strips of cardboard of various forms and 
sizes is provided. It has to form letters, and it has to 
put together words. A common element having been 
placed down, as " it; " the children are to place h before 
it, and all are to say "bit;" then removing the h and 
placing /, "fit," and so on. This spelling exercise is 
to be associated with writing, each child to form on 
the slates the letters and words it has made with the 
cards. Eeading is to be conducted on the plan detailed 
in Mrs. Tuckfield's " Education for the People." The 
teacher takes an object, obtains from the class its name, 
qualities, and uses, and writes on the black-board as 
she proceeds. At the close of the lesson the children 
read what has thus been written. 



162 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Elementary School. 

Section I. — Dr. Andrew Bell. 

The first attempt to reduce elementary instruction and 
school-keeping to system was that of Dr. Bell, the 
founder of the monitorial system. Much that was 
valuable in principle, and many important practical 
suggestions, had appeared in the writings of Ascham, 
Milton, Locke, and others ; but Dr. Bell was the first 
to make everything connected with the school do its 
work as a part of a machinery for the intellectual and 
moral benefit of the pupils. The germ of the moni- 
torial system, or of that part of it which concerns 
teaching, is found in Quintilian, who maintains that 
one who has just acquired a subject is best fitted to 
teach it ; but Dr. Bell hit on the expedient by accident. 
It was the refusal of one of the teachers of the Military 
Orphan Asylum, Madras, to do some part of his duty, 
which led him to employ a boy, who succeeded so well 
that eventually the adult teachers were dismissed, and 
the institution conducted by boys. The system was 
introduced into England in 1797, and was first prac- 
tised in the oldest parochial charity school in the city 
of London, St. Botolph's, Aldgate. 

In endeavouring to determine the value of any 
educational system, we must not merely examine the 
adaptation of its parts to the objects or aims of the 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 163 

system ; for in this respect it might be perfect as a 
system, and yet as a system of education be of little 
value. We must rather examine the aims of tne 
system, and inquire whether these are what education 
— true education — requires, and then examine all parts 
of the system in reference to their adaptation to secure 
these objects. 

No person concerned for the well-being of society, 
and for the advancement of his race in intelligence, 
civilization, and material and moral well-being, can be 
indifferent to the question, What is the province of 
the elementary school for the poor ? The schoolmaster 
has a special interest in the reply, as so much depends, 
both in his qualifications and in his daily avocations, 
upon the answer. Dr. Bell's answer is short and ex- 
plicit. " It is," he says, " to teach the rudiments of 
letters, of morality and of religion, and to prepare 
children for the stations they have to fill." Or, as he 
says elsewhere, it is " to turn out good scholars, good 
men, good subjects, and good Christians." Interpreted 
rightly, no higher aims than these could be put forth by 
any educationist ; but when we come to inquire, we find 
that the views of Bell, hid under these terms, were of the 
most moderate and limited character. His " Rudiments 
of Learning " embraced only mechanical reading and 
writing, with some knowledge of the fundamental four. 
Nay, in the case of the very poor he did not go even 
thus far. It was sufficient for them to learn to read 
the Bible ! It seems ludicrous in this connection to 
speak of ** good scholars," when the ability to read the 
Bible well does not give the ability to read even a 
newspaper. Perhaps, which is very likely, the doctor. 



164 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

by " good " scholars did not refer to the extent of 
their attainments, but to their soundness, as few educa- 
tionists have been so strenuous as he on having 
everything that is learnt done thoroughly. By the 
rudiments of morality and religion Bell seems to have 
meant a memoritcr acquaintance with passages of Holy 
Scripture and with .^he Catechism. Many besides Bell 
have attached great importance to this practice, as the 
one calculated to make " good Christians." Locke was 
one of the first to suggest a doubt of its efficiency, and 
to point out that no moral or religious habit is formed 
by merely preceptive instruction. In fact, it is hard 
to understand what influence a merely verbal acquaint- 
ance with divine truth could have on any man unless 
it was his habit to submit his conscience hourly to its 
guidance. And we know that there are many with 
such knowledge who are totally unsanctified by it 
either in life or heart. For ourselves, we should prefer, 
wherever practicable, that before Scripture, Catechism, 
or hymns are committed to memory, moans should be 
taken to open out their meaning, ai^d to bring it to 
bear on the conscience and practice, — satisfied, too, 
that this would fa?.^ in making " good Christians," 
unless accompanied by the powerful working of the 
Holy Spirit. It is singular that the analogy of reading 
did not suggest to Dr. Bell that moral habits are not 
formed by learning by heart. For as no one can be 
said to have received the rudiments of learning until 
he has the power to read, so no one has the rudiments 
of morality until he practises it. 

The province of the school in relation to the future 
calling of the children is an important question. There 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 165 

is no doubt, as Bell states, that the school should pre- 
pare them for the stations they have to fill. But 
should this preparation be general or special ? Should 
it consist in the formation of such habits as are required 
in any employment 1 or should it consist in furnishing 
industrial occupation or teaching a trade? Now it 
must be remembered that every well-conducted elemen- 
tary school does srpply that training, does secure that 
discipline, and does form those habits which constitute 
a general fitness for success in any calling. Considered 
in this light, all good schools are industrial. Attention, 
effort, patience, persevering application, are being cul- 
tivated every hour ; and if they once become habitual 
there will be no more difficulty in transferring them to a 
trade or handicraft, or any other occupation, than there 
is in turning them from one school subject to another. 

So thought Bell ; hence he claims for the monitorial 
school superiority in this respect, because it secured 
the constant employment of every child, and also in* 
vested many with offices of trust. But Bell went fur- 
ther than this, and maintained that the children of 
the labourer and of the artisan, after an hour or two in 
school, should be employed on some industrial occu- 
pation, or in learning a trade. 

Bell here showed himself not to be in advance of the 
public opinion of his day, which would debar the poor 
from extended instruction, as utterly unbefitting their 
condition, and as dangerous to society. But many still 
claim this as the function of the school, — some as a 
means of keeping children longer under instruction, 
the parents being able to appreciate the industrial oc- 
cupation ; others, because many employments require 



166 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

a manual dexterity whicli can be acquired only by 
those who go to them young. 

The essential conditions of real education, according 
to Dr. Bell, are attention and exertion on the part of 
the children. The success of a system in securing 
these is the test by which it ought to be tried, and 
on the ground ©f its fitness to secure them he claims 
attention to his own. Dr. Bell is doubtless right in 
taking this ground, as a more important principle 
cannot be named in connection either with elementary 
learning or the acquisition of right habits. Attention 
originates in a desire to learn, and its degree is in pro- 
portion to the strength of the desire. It seems, as 
employed by Bell, to imply instruction and an in- 
structor. But here is one of the weakest points in 
Dr. Bell's system. As he attached little weight to 
what is done /or a child, and highly valued the teach- 
ing of children by children, the result was that the 
instruction was mere rote, and consisted chiefly of 
what was mechanical and verbal. The agency em- 
ployed was well fitted to accomplish this task, and 
nothing in later improvements even can be said to 
be superior, perhaps not equal to it, in securing the 
mastery of lessons which always involve an amount 
of irksome drudgery to an adult. But this system 
was fruitless in a higher culture — a culture that is 
only possible when the mind of the well-instructed 
master is brought to bear directly and not vicariously 
on the minds of his charge. The habit of attention 
and exertion during a succession of lessons, for several 
hours daily, was rightly deemed by Bell of more im- 
portance than the simple act of attention required in 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 167 

one lesson. Hence the weight he attaches to this as 
an argument for the employment of monitors, these se- 
curing both a greater variety of work and more constant 
employment than were possible with but one teacher. 

But without looking at from the monitorial point of 
view, we must regard it— as indeed did Bell— as the 
backbone of any system of school education. Nothing 
in any system of education can be a substitute for a 
child's own exertions. I^o one ever became a scholar 
by the efforts of his teacher. Personal exertion is 
the only road to knowledge and mental cultivation. 
Therefore all methods of instruction are of value, just 
in proportion as they stimulate the child to put forth 
his own efforts on the task before him, and fit him for 
independent exertion at another time. This is the 
aim— or ought to be— of all teaching, the master, 
feeling that it is his province to teach only so 
far as to make his pupils to learn. A teacher's 
measure of success should always be the degree to 
which he can bring his scholars to exert themselves 
without aid. In fact, it may be laid down as an 
axiom, that all methods succeed as instruments of 
education in the degree in which they gain the pupils' 
own efforts, and thereby tend to form him to habits of 
self- exertion and reliance. Especially is this true in 
schools for the poor ; for as school life is short— too 
short for the purposes of education — the work of every 
school should be to put the power of self-education 
in every one's reach. 

It will not escape notice that this matter is regarded 
both as a means and as an end : as a means, because 
nothing that is really valuable in the whole range of 



168 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

knowledge, or in the fitness of the mind to acquire it, 
is possible to any one but through his own arduous 
exertions ; as an end, because the habit of active 
exertion and constant employment, directed to right 
objects, is one of the most important, whether to his 
own individual welfare or his usefulness to society. 

The principle which we have been considering may 
be regarded as the characteristic feature of school 
education until the introduction of oral teaching and 
of collective lessons. Bell's schools made no pro- 
vision for it but what was obtained by the preparation 
of lessons in school. But in other schools — those of 
a higher grade — there were home tasks, which it was 
the chief business at school to recite and to hear. 

At present, with an equal sense of the importance 
of securing a child's exertions, our means are multi- 
plied of doing so by our improved methods of 
teaching and organization. In many schools a por- 
tion of time is given by the younger children to the 
silent preparation of lessons, monitors being employed 
to see that all are faithfully engaged. A very valuable 
means of securing the scholar's exertions is having in 
every class where practicable the oral and reading 
lessons reproduced as abstracts. Another means is 
that of requiring — where the subjects admit of it, as 
in grammar and arithmetic — independent examples in 
illustration of any principle that has been explained 
or proved. In choosing his subjects, whether of class 
or collective lessons, the teacher should give preference 
to those which admit of this practice. And he should 
be ever careful to require his scholars to work out by 
themselves either the same lesson, or examples of a 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 169 

similar nature ; as it often happens that children who 
perfectly understand a process when shown to them 
on the B. B. or follow a process of reasoning under 
the stimulus of a master's questions, find themselves 
unable to do so afterwards alone. 

But of all the modes of securing the scholar's own 
exertions, that of home exercises — if well devised — is 
the best. Being more purely his own work, they are 
highly favourable to good progress. Their evident 
tendency is to form habits of voluntary exertion and 
self-reliance, for the scholar is working alone, without 
either the stimulus of the master's questions, or the 
power to appeal to his assistance. Hence they are 
peculiarly favourable to habits of self-dependence, as 
difficulties are to be met with, which must be grappled 
with and overcome without assistance. That **home 
exercises" may secure all this benefit to the pupil, 
they must be of a nature to interest him. Three 
kinds of home exercises are found in all good schools : 
— Preparative, including the reading lesson, spelling, 
history, geography, and any other which simply 
exercises the memory ; Eepetitionary, consisting of 
abstracts of lessons, and the working of examples in 
grammar and arithmetic, — a practice valuable not 
only as a repetition, but as giving a better under- 
standing of the subject; Inventive, including all 
exercises in composition, from a list of descriptive 
terms in the lower classes, to the theme or essay in 
higher, and also including such a preparation of the 
reading lessons as involves the use of a dictionary. Of 
these three modes the last is the best adapted to call 
out his powers ; the work is more properly his own, and 



170 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

any success he meets with animates him to further 
efforts. " Of all subjects calculated to call forth a 
pupil's own efforts, those which give him something 
to do have the preference over those which merely 
give him something to say." 

The principles on which Dr. Bell would have the 
instruction of children conducted are excellent, and 
so are many of his devices. To the latter he justly 
attached less importance than to the former, preferring 
that the working out of a principle should be left to 
the teacher himself, who, he says, should be " a man 
of many devices." Here is practical wisdom. No 
teacher should allow himself to be the slave of routine. 
Let him have princi})les and keep to them, but let 
his application of princii^les be- determined by his 
circumstances. He will often find that where one 
device — successful in other cases — fails in a particular 
one, another will succeed; his principle meanwhile 
working in all. That the instruction in Bell's system 
degenerated into a system of rote was the fault of the 
agent, rather than of the principles and methods. The 
most essential thing to secure the pupil's attention 
and exertion is to excite his interest in the work he 
has to do. This, then, is Bell's aim. The pupil must 
have something to do in every lesson. This Bell 
partly secures by requiring every lesson to be pre- 
pared by the pupil, with or without assistance, before 
bringing it up to the class. He also lays great stress 
on writing, both in the preparation and reproduction 
of lessons. "This gratifies," he says, "the love of 
activity inherent in the young mind." A definite 
portion of work must be assigned to be mastered in 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 171 

each lesson. The advantages of this are, that the 
pupil, knowing how much he is expected to master, 
works with greater energy, and as he is better able to 
mark his own progress, he works under greater en- 
couragement. It is necessary that all the initiatory 
processes be learnt thoroughly, and, in fact, that every 
lesson — in any way necessary to the understanding of 
those that follow it — be fully mastered. " Without 
this the pupil is as one stumbling in the dark." Henco 
no lesson or book in the earlier stages should be passed 
until well learnt. Ey the practice of passing through 
lessons without mastering them, " a load," he says, 
" of toil and tedium is laid up ; and the scholar, con- 
scious of his imperfect and slow progress, and puzzled 
and embarrassed by every lesson, everywhere feels dis- 
satisfied with the irksomeness of his daily tasks, and 
alike disgusted with his master, his school, and his 
book." In order to this thoroughness there must be 
a system of repetition. Unless frequently repeated 
the impressions made on the memory wear off. The 
impressions made by one or two perusals, or one or two 
practices of a lesson, are very weak ; but even where 
well learnt they die out, or the power is lost, unless 
frequently recalled. To obtain repetition without 
sameness, one requisite, according to Bell, is so to 
graduate the lessons that every step may prepare 
for, and, as it were, anticipate the following step. 
Another is to combine the new matter of the lesson 
with the old, by which means, while making fresh 
acquisitions, he is not losing those made before. But 
both these will be ineffective unless joined with re- 
capitulation, or the going over an entire series of 



172 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

lessons a second or third time, but more rapidly tlian 
in the tirst working. The danger to be guarded from 
— especially in reading lessons — is their becoming 
simply memoriter. 

The application of these principles to the several 
subjects of instruction may now be detailed. 

Reading. — Irrespective of the number of classes, 
which would depend on the size of the school, there 
are five marked stages in Bell's system, each more or 
less distinguished by differences of method — Alpha- 
betical, Monosyllabic Reading, Monosyllabic Spelling, 
Easy Reading, Bible Reading. The methods or devices 
were of two kinds — individual and class. The indi- 
vidual were confined to the first three stages, and were 
employed chiefly in the preparation of lessons after- 
wards to be heard in the class. Two children, one a 
tutor, the other a pupil, were placed side by side, the 
one to teach, the other to learn the appointed lesson. 
The method was to teach to read by first teaching to 
write. As the first difficulty encountered by a pupil 
in learning to read is that of distinguishing the letters 
and words, Bell aimed to overcome it by bringing the 
hand to the aid of the eye. Here he shows himself to 
be a practical teacher, and not a mere theorist. The 
attempt to produce a thing by the hand gives greater 
keenness of observation, and impresses the thing more 
permanently on the memory. 

The alphabet was grouped into a series of lessons, 
the letters being arranged according to their simplicity 
of form. When the alphabet was mastered, all possible 
combinations of two letters, a vowel and a consonant, 
formed another series, before the pupil was thought fit 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 173 

to pass from the alphabet stage. Each lesson consisted 
of three steps. The letter was traced, imitated, and 
at last produced from memory. The second stage in 
the learner's course was to read interesting stories in 
words of one syllable. The doctor attached much 
importance to the scholars becoming early familiar 
with all monosyllabic words because of their recurring 
so frequently ; and his making the first lessons interest- 
ing stories was intended to lessen the sense of irksome- 
ness necessarily attendant on the first stage of a new 
subject. Each lesson was prepared on the individual 
method. It was first written, then spelt on the book, 
and then with the book closed. This formed the first 
step. Then the children were assembled in class, and the 
lesson was read, first word by word in turn, then by 
sentences or lines — a pause being made after every word, 
for the twofold parpose of securing clear enunciation, 
and of impressing the words more distinctly on the 
eye. Then the books were closed and the lesson spelt 
through, after which it was again written on slates. 
The third stage consisted in the scholar learning to 
spell all the syllables that enter into the composition 
of words. He offers two reasons for what is so un- 
necessary, so irksome, and so unintelligent a practice : 
" Children so taught will not be able to learn by rote ; 
and henceforth they will be able, with little trouble, 
to read any book put into their hands." This reason is 
similar to that urged for the phonic method; and in 
both cases there is but one answer — that it is familiarity 
with whole words, obtained by frequently seeing them> 
that enables any one to read them at a glance. The 
fourth stage introduced the learner to such easy reading 



174 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

as was supplied by the narratives of the New Testameni 
Here ^'previous spelling" and "individual teaching" 
disappear. The methods are — word about, then by 
phrases; "because," as the doctor says, "the power to 
analyze a sentence into its parts is necessary to reading 
with intelligence ; " then by sentences, and lastly by 
pauses. This course was followed by spelling with 
book closed, and by a memoriter examination. The 
fifth stage introduced the learner to the Bible. The 
methods employed were the same as before, with the 
omission of " word about." 

Writing. — The views of Bell and of Locke on 
teaching to write may be taken as expository of the 
practices of the 17th and 18th centuries — a period, 
according to Lord Palmerston, marked by good writing. 
No doubt the good writing — in which the schools ot 
the old masters excelled — was owing, in great measure, 
to their observance of the rules of Bell and the plans 
of Locke. According to Dr. Bell, writing should be 
taught on the principle of learning to do one thing 
at a time. The first thing to be learnt is the manage- 
ment of the hand, then of the pen ; and as these are 
sufficiently difficult in themselves, they ought to bo 
mastered before forms of the letters are attempted. 

Organization. — Dr. Bell regarded organization as 
the prime instrument for obtaining attention and 
exertion. Nor can he be said to have attached too 
much importance to it. Eor the objects organization 
aims to secure are the constant employment, efficient 
instruction, and moral control of every child. And it 
is necessary to have some means of promoting these 
apart from the direct act of instruction, because 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 175 

children have a love of activity, are so affected by 
novelty, have so little power of continuous attention 
and have so many temptations to neglect their work, 
that unless stimulated continually to activity and exer- 
tion, through the power of the master to act on many 
points at once, the work of the school will not go on. 

The first feature of the Madras organization is its 
being monitorial. In other words, the teaching and 
management of the school were entrusted to such as 
were yet learners, selected for their several offices 
according as they showed an aptitude to teach or to 
manage. The primary organization embraced five 
officers, tutors, assistants, teachers, sub-ushers, and 
ushers. The tutor had one child to assist in the 
preparation of his lessons, all the children of one class 
becoming the tutors of the next class below. The 
assistants had charge of a class. They were overlookers 
and examiners. They kept the children at their 
lessons when with their tutors, and examined them in 
class after their lessons were prepared. The teachers 
had the charge of two or three classes. It was their 
business to take each class in turn, examining and 
stimulating both assistants and tutors. The sub- 
ushers were chargeable with the order and general 
arrangements, and with the supply of books and slates ; 
and they were expected to report to the usher the 
names of such children as they could not control. 
The duties of the usher were to conduct all the 
changes of the school, to act as a sort of general 
superintendent, and to take the names of all such as 
continued disorderly after they had been reported 
by the sub-ushers. These officers were to prevent the 



176 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

too frequent appearance of the master in matters of 
discipline and general management, it being thought 
that as "familiarity breeds contempt," his authority 
would be more efficient when he did appear. 

At a later period the doctor somewhat modified this 
plan. Tutors disappear, and to each class is appointed 
a teacher and an assistant, the office of the latter being 
simply to keep order. 

It thus appears that the monitorial agency wns of 
two kinds, — some were charged with matters of order 
and arrangement, others witli teaching. Hence it must 
be obvious that any charges against the one, or advan- 
tages attributed to it, do not necessarily hold in the 
case of the other. The advantages of the monitorial 
system over the individual system which it displaced 
are obvious. It made provision for stimulating into 
activity at a number of points at the same time, and 
thus converted the schoolroom from a scene of idleness 
and mischief into one of healthy excitement. The in- 
vesting so many with offices in connection with the 
order of the school enlisted their co-operation, and be- 
came also a means of influencing their companions, at 
the same time that the regular discharge of periodical 
duties tended to form habits which would be of service 
to them in later life. For employing monitors as 
teachers, it was argued that they are better qualified to 
impart instruction to each other, from their greater sym- 
pathy, and from their understanding each other's style 
and language. This may be admitted where the object 
sought is merely a mechanical one, or mere memoriter 
or fact teaching— and no wise teacher will refuse to 
avail himself of such services as they can render. But 



DR. ANDREW BELI* 177 

the limits of their power should be well understood. 
They can instruct, but not educate. They want that 
knowledge of mind, that influence of character, and 
those diversified attainments which are necessary to 
enable the teacher to develop the mind and build 
up the character of the children. Another argument 
in favour of monitorial teaching — and, in fact, that 
on which it is chiefly grounded — is that those who 
have but recently learnt a thing are better able to 
teach it, from remembering what were their own diffi- 
culties. I^ow to this reason very little weight must be 
attached. For, first, the difficulty experienced by one 
child in learning a thing is not always the difficulty of 
another. And second, it seems absurd to say that one 
who has just learnt is better able to teach than he who, 
having been teaching for years, is acquainted with all the 
difficulties, and the mode of removing or avoiding them. 
The second feature of the Madras organization was 
its classification. It consisted of large classes formed 
into hollow squares, and was based upon reading only. 
Such an arrangement exists yet in many schools. It 
is thought, by its advocates, superior to having separate 
classifications for each subject, from the more intimate 
relation which thus subsists between the class and its 
teacher, and the greater responsibility of the latter for 
the progress of the children. But, apart irom the in- 
justice of retarding by school arrangements the progress 
of a child in an essential subject because he is backward 
in another, as the reading classification — even when 
there are diff'erent bases of classification — embraces the 
greatest portion of school time, there is sufficient room 
to hold one teacher responsible for the general conduct 



178 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

and character. Besides, there is great advantage, where 
the subjects differ, in bringing children under the action 
of several minds, and of throwing them into competition 
with others than those they ordinarily associate with. 
Bell adopted the system of large classes, though un- 
favourable to each individual being called upon with 
that frequency which the elementary subjects require, 
because he would be more likely, having fewer classes, 
to get good teachers. He also thought that large 
classes call forth superior emulation, and with fewer 
classes the master's supervision would be more effective. 
To keep his classes on competing terms, without which 
emulation would be impossible, when a boy kept uni- 
formly near the head or foot of his class he was re- 
moved to the next above or below. 

The third feature of the Madras organization was the 
arrangements of the schoolroom. The objects to be 
secured in this part of organization are effective super- 
intendence, combined with such isolation of the classes 
as will prevent one class interfering in any way with 
the efficiency of another. Dr. Bell doubtless took his 
whole organization from the parade-ground. The ar- 
rangement into hollow squares, the gradation and sub- 
ordination of officers, the platform, the precision of the 
mechanical movements directed and controlled through 
subordinate agency, are all suggestions of that military 
organization with which his duties as chaplain at 
Madras made him familiar. 

School-keeping. — School-keeping includes under 
it all those important matters in which the master is 
chief agent, whichdo not belong either to method, 
organization, or discipline. Thus it includes the duties 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 179 

whicli fall specially to the master respecting the working 
of the school — his relations with the children and their 
parents — his arrangements to secure punctuality, regu- 
larity, and cleanliness— the keeping of registers— the 
means taken to keep the school in the public eye, — 
everything, in fact, which more nearly concerns the 
material prosperity of the school. We often hear of a 
man being a good disciplinarian, but a bad school- 
keeper ; of another being an excellent teacher, but no 
school-keeper; and men are sometimes pointed out 
whose full schools show their good school-keeping, 
although they are not remarkable either for their power 
of moral discipline or for their ability to teach. 

Good school-keeping is comparatively rare. Many 
teachers think that some of its requisites are such trifles 
as to be beneath their attention ; others, that some of 
the practices are fit objects of contempt rather than of 
imitation ; while not a few are satisfied if their methods 
are good, their organization unimpeachable, and their dis- 
cipline generallyeffective. But good school-keeping is an 
art not to be despised. It has so great an influence in 
filling a school, that no man who cares for a full school 
will think it prudent to neglect it. School-keeping, 
as an art, was in Bell's days in its infancy, so tha 
there is little to learn from him, but that little is 
highly suggestive. An essential feature of good 
school-keeping is the master's influence being felt in 
every part of the school continually. To this Bell at- 
tached the highest importance. He says, *' It is the 
master's unceasing duty to direct, guide, and control 
the uniform and impartial execution of the laws in all 
the departments of the school, so as to render them 



180 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

effectual to the purpose for which they are framed. 
These are to maintain quiet and order, to give full scope 
to the love of imitation and spirit of emulation, so as 
to promote diligence and delight, advance the general 
progress, imbue the infant mind with the first princi- 
ples of morality and religion, and implant in the tender 
heart habits of method, order, and piety." Of the 
manner of doing this he says : " From his place h^ 
overlooks the whole school, and gives life and motion 
to every member of it. He inspects the classes one by 
one, and is occupied wherever there is most occasion for 
his services, and where they will best tell. He is to 
encourage the diffident, the timid, and the backward; 
to check and repress the forward and presumptuous ; 
to bestow just and ample commendation upon the dili- 
gent, attentive, and orderly, however dull their capacity 
or slow their progress ; to stimulate the ambitious, rouse 
the indolent, and make the idle bestir themselves : in 
short, to deal out praise and displeasure, encouragement 
and threatening, according to the temper, disposition, 
and genius of the scholar. He is occasionally to hear 
and instruct the classes, or rather, overlook and direct 
the teachers and assistants while they do so. It is his 
chief business to see that others work, rather than work 
himself." The fault of Dr. BeU's system here is — not 
in attaching too much importance to effective supervi- 
sion, that could scarcely be, but in making no provision 
for the direct action of the master's mind in the process 
of the child's instruction. Yet it is of equal import- 
ance that the master should come in contact daily with 
each child in his progress through the school, as that 
he should keep the entire machinery oiled and in motion. 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 181 

Another element in good school-keeping is to have 
arrangements by which the master may know all par- 
ticulars of the progress of every child and of every 
class, so that he may give special attention to the dull 
and backward, and stimulate to activity the idle 
whether amongst teachers or children. Dr. Bell's plans 
of doing this were simple and effective. Each boy 
able to write made an entry every night on a sheet 
at the end of his book of his work for that day. The 
i-esult was tabulated at the end of the month in a 
book called a Paidometer. "The Paidometer," says 
Dr. Bell, "shows each child's monthly progress, 
from his admission into the school, to leaving it, in 
twelve triple columns, in which, on the last day of 
every month are entered the book page, and stage of 
the course at which the scholar is arrived in his reading, 
ciphering, and religious rehearsals. A single line on a 
folio sheet comprehends the progress of each child for 
a year." Besides this there was a Weekly Eegister 
which contained a summary of the daily attendance and 
work kept by the teacher of each class. It must be 
evident that the value of such records depends on the 
faithfulness with which they are kept. The means to se- 
cure this was in the periodical examinations. Coming to 
a class for this purpose, the master asked for this Paid- 
ometer and Weekly Eegister, and proceeded to examine 
the class in the work professed to have been done. 

Another element of good school-keeping is to bring 
before visitors the good points of a school, as well as 
any special things in which individual children excel. 
Dr. Bell attached importance to this, because of its in- 
fluence alike on teachers and children in promoting 



182 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

emulation. He points out that it is the mark of a 
weak master to be satisfied with showing the first class, 
and he attributes the deterioration of some schools to 
the neglect by some masters of " trotting out " the 
younger ones as well as the older ones. 

Discipline. — " Were it required to say," says Dr. 
Bell, *' in one word, by what means the primary and 
essential requisites, attention and exertion, are to be 
called forth, that word were discipline. Its original 
meaning is learning, education, and instruction, but it 
has come, as often happens, to signify the means by 
which this end is attained, whether it be the method, 
order, and rule observed in teaching, or the punish- 
ment and correction employed." The importance 
attached by Bell to discipline as a system of means to 
secure the great objects of the school may be seen in 
his saying, '* It is in a school as in an army, disci- 
pline is the first, second, and third essential." The 
means which he includes in this term **are arrange- 
ment, method, and order ; vigilance, emulation, praise, 
and dispraise ; favour and disgrace, hope and fear ; 
rewards and punishments ; and especially guarding 
against whatever is tedious, difficult, operose, and irk- 
some, and rendering every task prescribed to the 
scholar short, simple, easy, adapted, and intelligible." 

The prevention of wrong- doing is one of the objects 
sought in these measures — an object deserving every 
master's serious attention. To do this, some of Bell's 
measures were admirably adapted, {a) Many of the 
offences against order proceed from the lessons not 
Deing adapted in length and difficulty to the age and 
etage of the children. In this case, the children not 



Dll. ANDREW BELL. 183 

being interested in their employment, either become 
listless, go off fairy-rambling, or seek employment of a 
more congenial description. (b) Often offences are 
traceable to the presence in school of boys of bad habits 
or evil dispositions, '^A master," says Long, "in 
taking charge of a school undertakes to govern and 
instruct a number of individuals, who have been 
brought up in a variety of ways, some with bad habits, 
some with good, but all with some peculiarities or 
propensities ; " hence the necessity of vigilant superin- 
tendence, that such as are of bad habits may be re- 
strained by the certainty of discovery, joined to a 
wholesome fear of correction, (c) All lads prefer a 
strict discipline to a lax one. All like method, order, 
regularity, and to act as one of a body. The military 
arrangements, the variety, promptness, and precision 
of the movements, therefore, introduced by Bell, were 
admirably calculated to prevent wrong-doing, by accus- 
toming them to act in obedience to system, and so 
tended to form habits of order and attention. 

A higher aim in discipline than the prevention of 
disorder, idleness, or noise, or even than the obtaining 
of military order, is to incite children to put forth 
efforts for their own personal improvement. The signs 
of such a discipline are in the willing attention, con- 
stant diligence, respectful demeanour, and kindly 
intercourse of the scholars. "Where these are found, 
the basis is being laid of a high, noble, and virtuous 
character. Their attainment depends more on the 
earnestness 6f the teacher's character, and on the per- 
sonal influence which springs therefrom, than on the 
means employed. So thought Bell, yet he was not 



184 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

indifferenb to the use of means having this tendency. 
Praise wherever it was due, special marks of favour to 
those who distinguished themselves by their diligence 
and good conduct, were among the subsidiary means ; 
but his chief dependence was on the principle of 
emulation, and on the means to bring it into operation. 
" Emulation," he says, " though not a new principle, 
is so perpetual and powerful an agent in the Madras 
school as to have had the propriety of using it seriously 
questioned." The objections urged then and urged 
still seemed to have proceeded either from confounding 
it with something else, or because of its liability to 
abuse. The objections are that it is unscriptural, and 
productive of much evil ; to which it is replied, " In 
its strict literal signification it denotes an earnest 
desire and contention to outstrip others, not to obstruct 
them, much less to thrust them back; that in this 
sense it is a natural principle implanted in the human 
breast by the Creator for the wisest and noblest pur- 
poses ; and that its being productive of good or evil 
depends on the source whence it originates, and the 
objects to which it is applied." To set forth still 
more clearly his view of what emulation is, he thus 
quotes from Aristotle : — "Emulation is a painful soli- 
citude, occasioned by there being presented to our notice* 
and placed within our reach in the possession of those, 
who are by nature our fellows, things at once good and 
honourable; not because they belong to them, but 
because they do not also belong to us." " Contrasted 
with envy — a base passion, inherent in mean souls, 
who seek not to exalt themselves, but to depress their 
fellows — is this generous principle of emulation." 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 185 

This principle is brouglit into operation by the clas- 
sification of a school, and by an arrangement which 
quickly removes to a higher class one who has kept 
ahead of his fellows, or places him in a lower one if he 
is found invariably below them. The means intro- 
duced by Bell to test this relative proficiency, and to 
excite the effort necessary to fit for removal, was place- 
taking. The value of place-taking in eliciting emula- 
tion must depend on the competition taking place on 
equal terms. Bell seems to have thought that this 
would be the case where the children were properly 
classified. Perhaps he was to some extent right, 
when the subjects are simply mechanical; as place- 
taking may then stimulate to exertion, so that by this 
and perseverance, weakness of natural endowment may 
be compensated for by acquired power, — as in the 
power of the eye to retain /orms / but not so in those 
which demand a higher intelligence because of the 
diversities of character, and of mental powers found 
among children. Hence it has been objected to place- 
taking that it rewards boisterous impudence and self- 
confidence, and punishes the higher qualities of gentle- 
ness and modesty. 

The treatment of offences so as to secure "the 
amendment of offenders, and the deterring others 
from committing faults," is an important object of dis- 
cipline. To secure amendment, and to deter others 
from wrong, Bell thought that **much depended on 
making every boy in the school sensible that you have 
in view only his good." " That their daily experience 
of your conduct towards them must lead them to con- 
sider you as their friend, their benefactor, their guide, 



186 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

and their parent." He also thought it important that 
a record of each child's offences should he kept. The 
ohject was twofold. To prevent the awarding of pun- 
ishment at the moment of offence, and hefore a calm 
investigation of it had taken place, and to furnish 
evidence of the improvement or otherwise in the 
pupil's conduct and character. Bell also attached 
much importance to the influence which the opinions 
of boys have on the feelings and practices of their 
companions. Hence he had a system of trial by jury, 
in which the boys themselves had to determine the 
innocence or guilt of their fellows. He says that he 
" had never had reason to think their decision partial, 
biassed, or unjust, or to interfere with their award, 
otherwise than to remit or mitigate the punishment," 
when the end might be accomplislied by the simple 
expression of condemnation by his fellows. 

Punishment — what is its design"? Three answers 
have been given to the question: — 

1. To expiate the offence by a just penalty. 

2. To reform the offender, and to deter others from 
doing wrong. 

3. To expiate the offence, and to deter others from 
doing wrong. 

Now, in reference to pvMisliments in school, it has 
ever been held of impoHance by the most thoughtful 
educationists to make a distinction between moral 
offences and those which are simply breaches of order, 
or of school laws in themselves indifferent. To treat 
both alike tends to confound in the minds of children 
moral distinctions with merely conventional rules. 
With respect to moral offences, there has never been a 



DR. ANDREW BELL. 187 

doubt of the duty to impress children with the fact 
that any punishment they receive from their parents 
or masters does not expiate their sin, that it does not 
entitle them to forgiveness, and that without real and 
cordial concern for their fault they cannot be treated 
on the same terms as before they did wrong. Such 
being the case, the term punishment does not rightly 
describe the object in view ; hence the term correction 
would be better. The design of it is to reform the 
offender by correcting what is wrong, and to deter 
others from doing wrong by associating indelibly the 
ideas of sin and pain — that where the first is, the other 
sooner or later must follow. With respect to the 
second class of offences, Bell seems to have held that 
the punishment should be so adapted to the offence 
that it would not only tend to reform and deter, but in 
some measure satisfy the claims of right and justice. 
Thus, if a task was not performed when appointed, he 
thought that keeping the pupil from play to learn it 
was the only penalty the case required. 

All punishment aims at a moral result. Anything 
short of this is not punishment. To produce a moral 
result the mind must be reached. Bell, aware of this, 
employed reproof, deprived of some anticipated plea- 
sure, or forbade the offender the company of his school- 
fellows, and, where other means failed, corporal pun- 
ishment. Eeproof is often a severe and effective 
punishment. Its being so depends partly on the 
degree of esteem in which the master is held, partly on 
the delicacy with which it is administered, and partly 
on its not being too frequent. Eeproof should be 
given privately ; rude exposure only tends to blunt the 



188 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

feelings of the culprit, and to awaken the sympathies 
of the bystanders in his favour. Abbott says, "In 
many cases where a fault has been publicly committed, 
it seems at first view to be necessary that it should be 
publicly punished ; but the end will, in most cases, be 
answered if it is noticed publicly, so that the pupils 
may know that it received attention, and then the 
ultimate disposal of the case may be made a private 
afiair between the teacher and the individual con- 
cerned." In many cases the communication may be 
made most delicately and most successfully in writing. 
The more delicately j'ou touch the feelings of your 
pupils, the more tender these feelings become. Many 
a teacher hardens and stupefies the moral sense of his 
pupils by the harsh and rough exposures to which he 
drags out the private feelings of the heart. A man 
may easily produce such a state of feeling in his school, 
that to address even the gentlest reproof to any indi- 
vidual in the hearing of the rest would be a most 
severe punishment; and, on the other hand, he may 
80 destroy that sensitiveness that his vociferated re- 
proaches will, as Madame Keeker observes, "pass by 
him as a storm, he sheltering himself the while under 
the cover of indifference or resentment." In cases where 
more than reproof is needed, Bell was of opinion that 
to deprive of enjoyment is more effective than to inflict 
pain, Eodily pain is but momentary, but to keep 
from play or to detain after school hours compels the 
attention for a longer time to the offence, and to what 
it deserves. 

In some of the worst cases he would forbid the lad 
the companionship of his schoolfellows. This to a lad 



JOSEPH LANCASTER. 189 

is often the severest punishment you can inflict. It 
appeals at once to his self-respect. That he is not 
thought deserving to associate with other boys wounds 
him to the quick. It also addresses itself to his con- 
science, which gives the sanction of its authority to the 
feeling that such as are doers of evil are not fit to 
associate with the good. 

BeU objected to corporal punishment. He thought 
the cases /ew? where it was needed. As generally em- 
ployed it effects no good, as its impression is but 
momentary ; while, on the other hand, its tendency is 
to degrade and harden. Bell thought that its employ- 
ment could be justified only in the case of the weak- 
minded master, who had no other means of govern- 
ment. '* Its use," he says, " is a sign of poverty and 
destitution." It betrays ignorance of mind as weU as 
want of power over it. 

Section II. — Joseph Lancaster, 

Aims and Principles. — The year following that in 
which Bell introduced his system into this country, 
Joseph Lancaster opened a school in the Borough 
Eoad, Southwark. The son of a common soldier^ 
himself, previously to his great enterprise, a seaman in 
the navy, without funds, but enthusiastic and benevo- 
lent, he started the noble project of giving instruction 
to the destitute poor. Becoming acquainted with the 
Madras system, he sought to realize Bell's conception, 
and with so much success that ere he was twenty 
he had gathered a school of 1,000 children. As an 
example of enthusiastic devotion to the highest 



]90 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

though least esteemed and worst paid of all professions, 
Lancaster is worthy of the imitation of afll engaged in it. 

Some degree of enthusiasm seems necessary to bring 
any enterprise to a successful issue, but especially is 
enthusiasm essential to success in the work of education. 
Its high and noble objects, the culture of the mind 
and the formation of character, can never be fully 
attained but by men in whom the love of education 
is an all-absorbing passion. K'or is it impossible to 
attain such enthusiasm, though it is easier in some 
cases than in others. Some seem to be endowed with 
an enthusiastic spirit, and whatever the pursuit, they 
engage in it with all their soul. Lancaster was one of 
these, but although all cannot as readily enter into the 
spirit of this great work, yet by accustoming themselves 
to think often on the greatness of the objects sought, 
they will succeed at length in awakening in themselves 
some portion of this spirit. 

The province of the school, according to Lancaster, 
is "to train children in the practice of such moral 
habits as are conducive to the welfare of society," as 
well as to impart instruction in useful learning. Moral 
training was held by him — and justly — to be insepa- 
rable from religious instruction. Here, and here only, 
have we that sanction and that morality which 
the conscience recognises, and here only have we 
those motives by which the will can be permanently 
influenced. It is well to bear this in mind. While 
we insist on the practice of moral duties, and the 
exercises of the moral faculties, as the principal agents 
in moral discipline, we must not place religious beaching 
in a low or subordinate place. Nay, we must place it 



JOSEPH LANCASTER. 191 

first — first in the class of motives — first as an instru- 
ment. Our Saviour, in His ever-memorable prayer, 
says, "Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word 
is truth," Now this implies that the truth is known. 
Let us then present religious truth to the young 
mind — lodge it in the memory — make it clear to the 
intelligence — employ it so as to call forth emotion — 
but, above all, address it to the conscience, and thus 
endeavour to secure its action on the life. 

Methods. — Method made but little advance in the 
hands of Lancaster. It was chiefly in the arrangements 
to secure progress, and in the teaching of arithmetic, 
that we discover any differences betwixt himself and 
Dr. Bell. Lancaster seems to have had a glimmering 
of a truth, which must have been practically recognised 
by every successful teacher, though often overlooked, 
namely, that school life has distinct periods, in each of 
which there is a special object, by which its subjects 
and methods must be determined. He divides school 
life into two periods. The first is one in which the 
child should receive all the aid which his teacher 
can give him, consistently with training him to self- 
helpfulness, in acquiring those instruments which are 
required to the successful pursuit of knowledge. The 
second in which he should be taught to apply what 
he has acquired to the study of other branches, being 
thrown, in doing so, as much as possible on his own 
resources. The value of thus dividing school life into 
periods is, that by clearly defining what you can 
accomplish, and laying distinctly down what you may 
attempt with a probability of success, your labours 
become more determinate, and the results obtained 



192 SYSTEMS OF EDUCA.TION. 

more perfect than when you work without a well- 
defined aim, or without reference to what mental 
developmeut, or the acquisition of knowledge require?. 
The necessity of such a graduation of lessons, in 
which each will prepare for and be repeated in those 
which succeed, was practically recognised by both the 
founders of the monitorial system. But Lancaster 
had a better appreciation of what was required to 
accomplish it. In learning to read, the number of 
words to be mastered before there can be ability to 
read any book is so great, that only he who gets much 
reading — much not in a single lesson, but in a variety 
of lessons— can hope speedily to overtake the task. 
This plain fact is often forgotten, and by none so 
much as those who with Bell have reading taught in 
large classes, instead of with Lancaster, in small drafts. 
The small drafts enabled Lancaster to have three 
grades of lessons where Bell had but one, and thus 
provided for a larger amount of reading as well as for 
a better graduation of difficulties. The same arrange- 
ment also secured the second great essential to progress 
in this as in every other mechanical art — much 
practice. It is obvious that children in Lancaster's 
school would have three times the amount of practice 
which they had in Dr. Bell's, as well as three times 
the variety of lessons. 

A great improvement introduced by Lancaster was 
in the teaching of Arithmetic. Hitherto the instruc- 
tion, as in reading and writing, had been individual. 
Lancaster applied the class system to it, and with 
better results than were obtained in reading. This 
waa due to all working at once, emulation being thus, 



JOSEPH LANCASTER. 193 

more easily excited, and the attention kept up, than 
when only one was actively engaged as in reading. 
In teaching arithmetic Lancaster had the following 
plans : — The basis of progress was placed in a thorough 
knowledge of the tables. In every new rule the 
examples were at first short and easy, increasing in 
length and difficulty with the power of the learner. 
Each class had a definite number of examples, which 
were written in a book kept by the monitor, and these 
were worked over and over again, until they could be 
worked with facility and despatch. In teaching a new 
rule, a monitor dictated an example ; he then worked 
it out, the scholars following him on their slates ; then 
the slates were cleaned, the example written on the 
B. B., and each boy in turn took a part of the opera- 
tion. This was persisted in until the mode of working 
was understood. 

Organization. — Schoolroom Arrangements. — In the 
plan of his schoolroom Lancaster shows the influence 
of early associations on the practices of maturer years. 
He doubtless had a ship of war in his eye when he 
planned his room. The length of the room was nearly 
twice the width, the area was filled with parallel desks, 
a space of about six feet was left round the room for 
draft teaching, and at one end was a raised platform, 
from which all orders were issued, and from which 
the whole could be inspected. Opposite each draft 
a black-board was suspended, that the monitor might 
illustrate any diificulty that occurred in the reading, 
spelling, or arithmetic lessons. There was fastened 
to the wall, at the height of about five feet, a small 
open box in which the books and slates of the draft 




194 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

were kept. At the distance of eighteen inches there 
were slates so let into the desk as to be level with the 
top — an arrangement that was made to prevent noise, 
save time, and preserve from breakages. In all these 
arrangements the intention was to economize the noise 
and labour of working the school, and also to give 
the master the power to act on the whole or a part at 
pleasure. 

Classification. — It has been already pointed out that 
Lancaster, recognising two great purposes in school 
life, one of supplying the instruments of learning, the 
other of teaching their application to the acquisition 
of knowledge, formed his school into two great di- 
visions corresponding to these aims. In respect of 
the basis of classification, having seen the advantages 
of united practice in reading and spelling, he applied 
the same process to arithmetic, which had hitherto 
been taught, as were all the arts, on the individual 
method. A very little experience convinced him that 
class teaching was more successful in arithmetic than 
in reading, because of the greater difficulty in the 
latter case of keeping all employed. He also soon 
made the discovery that to keep up a healthy emulation 
with equable progress, it was necessary to have a dis- 
tinct classification for arithmetic, as the scholar's rate 
of progress was very variable in the two subjects. 
With respect to the size of a class, that must depend 
on the number of children in a school, since the stages 
of the learner's progress are pretty well defined ; but 
when these classes come to practise reading, spelling, 
and arithmetic, Lancaster would have only such a 
number grouped as would give frequent practice. 



JOSEPH LANCASTER. 



195 



More practical than Bell, and perhaps more me- 
chanical, and not so sanguine of a monitor's power to 
keep a large number actively employed, he attached 
value to frequency of practice. On the other hand. 
Bell thought that, having fewer classes and securing 
better teachers, he would get a higher intelligence, 
which would more than compensate for any mechanical 
loss. The truth seems to be, in relation to these 
opinions, that although an inteUigent lad will need 
shorter practice than one less intelligent, yet frequent 
practice is as much required in the one case as in the 
other, the only difference being that the one will pass 
through the various stages more rapidly than the other. 
Certain it is that a clever fellow, applying himself at 
distant intervals, will not make the progress of him 
who— less gifted— applies himself at the lapse of short 
periods. 

Working and Teaching Power— In working the 
school Lancaster had a head monitor, who was charged 
with the changes, the order, and the general arrange- 
ments, thus leaving the master to devote his attention 
to superintendence and to cases of discipline. The head 
monitor was assisted by monitors of order, who had 
charge of class lists, looked after absentees, and sup- 
plied the classes with whatever they required. To 
each class was appointed a superior monitor, whose 
business it was to test the work of the monitors of 
drafts, and to superintend all the work in desks. 
Besides these there were inspectors, whose business it 
was to examine periodically every class, give to each 
scholar a thorough sifting, and to pass on to a higher 
class every one who was fit for removal. This system 



196 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

was due to the importance attached by Lancaster to 
keeping every boy employed, to having checks on the 
work of the monitors, the progress of the scholars, 
and on their attendance ; and to the great advantage 
to the discipline of the school of enlisting the co- 
operation of as large a number as was possible. 

Discipline. — Lancaster, as might be expected, fell 
into some errors in the details of discipline, but he 
shows himself to have been well versed in the art of 
government, and to have had considerable insight into 
3hild-nature, and the motives by which it is influenced. 
Exception has been justly taken to his appealing in 
some instances to the lower and more sordid feelings, 
and also to the punishments he employed, but his 
general principles are those on which the success of all 
school government depends. 

He lays its foundations in the influence of the master, 
the power of public opinion, the co-operation of the 
leading children, the distribution of honourable distinc- 
tions and rewards, the judicious use of emulation, the 
value of drill, of constant employment, and of conduct- 
ing all movements by signals, and on punishments 
varying in kind, and being administered without 
ruffling the temper of the master. 

" The personal character of the master, the influence 
which he establishes in his school, and the feelings with 
which he inspires his scholars, are now generally ac- 
knowledged as the chief sources of discipline and 
government. It is often said that a master has more 
need to watch himself than his children, as in the 
majority of cases, the disorder or disobedience found in 
a school is traceable to some omission, inconsiderate- 



JOSEPH LANCASTER. 197 

ness, hastiness of temper, or want of firmness in him- 
self." To the same effect the good discipline of a school 
is invariably attributed to the ascendency of the 
master's character, and not to the means he employs, 
only so far as they help to establish it. So Abbott, 
after detailing some admirable plans for promoting 
moral influence, says " that they will depend for their 
success, not so much on their adaptation to human 
nature, as on the character of the man by whom they 
are employed." 

A thorough conviction of this would be found to be 
an earnest of success to the young schoolmaster who is 
really ambitious to be an educator. " Not that the 
character can be assumed at pleasure, for this, like all 
character, has its roots in the soil of past years, l^o, 
nothing can appear in the character of a man that has 
not grown there. The lesson of to-day could not be 
said if it had not been preceded by those of yesterday, 
and many days before it. And if a man attempt the 
deception of appearing what he is not, the moment of 
entering the presence of children strips him of his dis- 
guise, ' no admittance for shams ' being written on the 
portals of every temple of youth." Still a conviction of 
the truth that personal character is the source of what 
his school will become must point out to the young 
master the necessity of that personal discipline without 
which he must miserably fail in any attempt to achieve 
what is great and good. 

Next to the personal influence of the master, Lan- 
caster places the power of public opinion, the 
latter indeed springing from the former. By the 
public opinion of the school, he means the 



198 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

opinion which pervades the mass of children 
respecting their school and their teacher, and what- 
ever concerns either the one or the other. Lancaster 
points to the existence of such a feeling in the rivalry 
which sometimes exists between two schools, and urges 
that it shall be formed and exerted on the side of order, 
diligence, and progress. The importance of securing 
this public opinion has been held by some of the most 
eminent educators, Fellenberg, describing his own 
practice, says, " The effort is constant to excite in the 
pupils that public spirit which seeks to exclude every- 
thing improper from its sphere of influence, in order to 
preserve the order and tranquillity which are necessary 
to the improvement of all. . . . An influence of 
this kind once established, with due regulation and 
oversight, will often accomplish more than all the re- 
monstrances and discipline of the teacher. The pupil 
can seldom resist the force of truth when he finds him- 
self condemned by the common voice of his com- 
panions, and is often more humbled by this censure 
from his equals than by any of the admonitions of his 
superiors." When public opinion has been thus formed 
in favour of whatever is lovely and of good report, the 
new scholar will find that he cannot do as he pleases, 
or as he has been accustomed to, but he must conform 
to that which he finds established. But this is equally 
true whether the teacher form the public opinion of the 
school or not. It is not in the power of the teacher to 
prevent its formation. Met together in numbers, rules 
are tacitly adoi^ted, and a standard of conduct is fixed 
by which every one is tried, and to which every one 
must submit. Every one entering this society, in a few 



JOSEPH LANCASTER. 199 

days partakes of the general tone, at the same time that 
he imparts to it something of his own. Few can really 
estimate the power which thus exists in a school, and 
few have ever felt more strongly than Lancaster the ne- 
cessity of securing it to the side of good government. 

Lancaster sought to form the public opinion of the 
school through the means of those children whose 
lively, active, energetic spirits gave them influence and 
command with their fellows. His first aim was to at- 
tach these to himself, by furnishing them employment, 
involving honour, trust, and command. Having secured 
them by thus skilfully availing himself of what was 
the prominent feature in their character, his next 
step was to secure their co-operation in influencing 
others. For this purpose he would often meet them 
apart, and placing before them one of his plans, he 
would dweU on its importance to the well-being of 
the school, and would by every means in his power 
endeavour to excite their interest in the working of it 
out. This accomplished, he knew they would influence 
others, and so the thing would spread until the mass 
was leavened. 

Means of Discipline. — Two objects, according to 
Lancaster, are to be kept in view in school discipline. 
One is to procure order, quietness, diligence, and obedi- 
ence, these being necessary to the children's progress in 
learning. The other is the right training of the ivill. 
The last is the most difficult problem in education. To 
furnish motives which will not only operate in the 
master's presence, but which will have a permanent in- 
fluence on conduct and character — to bring the will 
under control, and yet impart to it strength, determina- 



200 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

tion, and power of resistance, is tlie highest object of 
discipline, as it is the greatest achievement of the edu- 
cator. Our judgment, then, of the means employed in 
school government must have reference to their adapta- 
tion to secure the one or other of these ends; and 
we must be careful not to confound the one with the 
other, — for a set of means that may be well adapted to 
secure the first, may be equally so to defeat the second. 
Order, quietness, diligence, and obedience may be ob- 
tained at the expense of everything that is really valuable 
in the character and the will. No ; it is not by their 
power as present motives to secure order, that we must 
determine the value of the means employed, but by 
their power to supply principles which shall have an 
abiding existence as motives of right conduct and 
action at all times. It is highly important to bear 
these considerations in mind during our present review. 
Lancaster well understood the necessity of supplying 
motives of action which should be permanent rather 
than temporary, and he showed his knowledge of human 
nature in their selection. Yet at almost every step we 
find something to deprecate, — if not in the motives 
themselves, yet in the means to give them birth. 

Among the means employed to secure order and 
quietness, besides endeavouring constantly to form a 
public opinion in their favour, he attached — and justly 
— much value to simultaneous movements and action in 
class work, and in school changes ; to having these 
done as often as possible by signals instead of oral com- 
mands ; to having oral commands in the fewest possible 
words, and in such arrangements as would render idle- 
ness impossible without being immediately detected. In 



JOSEPH LANCASTER. 201 

these things he laid hold of sympathy, imitation, and 
the love of action, found in children, and turning them 
wisely to account in matters of easy and pleasant per- 
formance, he laid the foundation of habits of obedience 
in matters of graver moment. For he says truly 
that a child accustomed to obey in little matters will 
more readily do so in the greater. 

One of the greatest difficulties in school-keeping 
arises from the number of children who require some 
external stimulus to get them to plod on with earnest 
effort at their various lessons. Lancaster successfully 
encountered the difficulty, but it was by an almost ex- 
clusive appeal to the emotions of self — the love of dis- 
tinction — the hope of reward — and emulation. Every 
boy in class wore conspicuously on his breast the num- 
ber of his position. Every one who gained the top of 
his class, wore as long as he remained there a badge of 
merit. Every one who distinguished himself in read- 
ing, spelling, writing, or arithmetic, wore a badge setting 
forth the fact. Every one who distinguished himself by 
his excellence in all the subjects, or in teaching them 
to others, or in his efforts to reclaim bad boys, wore a 
silver medal of the order of merit. To boys who gained 
the badges of merit four times tickets with a money 
value were given, which might be exchanged at any 
time for toys, books, or pictures. To those who obtained 
the order of merit, and who continued to distinguish 
themselves, prizes more costly were given — to some 
silver watches. !Now the great objection, as it strikes 
one, to all this, is not in acting on such principles as 
the love of distinction, but in making the gratification 
to consist, not in the thing itself, but in parading it I 



202 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION". 

before others, and in the material gains which accrued 
from it. Hence the thing to be feared would be that 
even if the motive of action did not become permanent, 
that the lads would slacken their efforts when removed 
from the school. But suppose such motives to become 
the permanent principles of action, what would be 
the result ? A character in which there would be no 
high aspirations, where there would be no regard to 
what was good, unless it brought with it distinction 
applause, and material gain. But how low, how mean 
how debased, how utterly unbefitting the high destiny 
of man would be such a character — a character in which 
the love of display was the chief feature ! 

A mode of employing emulation, in use by Lancaster, 
is worthy of imitation. He set class against class. To 
two classes he assigned the same work, and that which 
excelled occupied the highest place until the next trial 
of strength. In this contest the individual was sunk 
in the class. It was not for personal distinction, but 
for the distinction of his class that he contended. 
Here self gave way before the desire that tliose with 
whom he associated should wm. Each lad would work, 
not that he might win, but that his class might. Lan- 
caster states that the experiment was invariably suc- 
cessful, every lad putting forth his utmost ability for 
the success of the class to which he belonfi;ed. 

Section III. — Hie Intellectual System. 

The instruction under the Monitorial system of its 
first promoters was the merest rote. It consisted 
chiefly in mechanical reading, writing, and arithmetic. 



THE INTELLECTUA.L SYSTEM. 203 

It is interesting to note this fact, now that there is a 
tendency under recent legislative action, to restrict the 
work of the school within the same meagre limits. 
What were the results attained under a system of 
similar restriction 1 That they were not satisfactory 
might be surmised from the efforts of such men as 
"Wood, Stow, Grant, Shuttleworth, Tate, and many 
others, to alter or add to the existing system, or to 
substitute something else for it. But we are not left 
to conjecture. Brougham's commission of 1816, Pillans' 
letters, and the earlier reports of H.M.'s Inspectors, 
have placed the matter beyond dispute. The charges 
against a system that only drilled in reading, WTiting, 
and arithmetic, were, amongst others, that under it 
progress was not commensurate with the labour be- 
stowed; that a large majority, after years of attend- 
ance, left school with such a smattering as to be practi- 
cally of no use to them ; that the stupidity under ques- 
tioning was in a sense appalling ; that intelligence not 
being cultivated, the habit of reading was not formed ; 
and that in many cases the power to read and write 
acquired at school was subsequently lost. 

The first innovation on this state of things was — 
keeping a monitorial organisation, by direct culture of 
the intelligence chiefly in connection with the reading 
lesson. The success attending it was such that its 
promoters, distinguishing it from the mechanical re- 
iteration of the older monitorial schools, termed it the 
Intellectual system. Worked out by the disinterested 
exertions of Mr. Wood, and made known in its chief 
features by the enthusiastic labours of Professor Pillans, 
IS well as at a later period in the ** Account of the 



204 SYSTEMS OF EDUCA.TION. 

Edinburgli Sessional School," it rapidly made its way 
both in Scotland and England, advanced here by 
the fostering care of the British and Foreign School 
Society. 

The intellectual system originated in a desire to im- 
prove the matter and methods of instraction of the 
elementary school, to infuse spirit into all its exercises, 
and to create activity, energy, and intelligence through- 
out the classes. To accomplish these things, it was 
seen that a knowledge of child mind is essential ; that 
the memory must not be the only object of culture, 
but that other powers must be brouglit out, such as 
perception, imagination, and judgment : and that re- 
gard must be had to the fact that a child has passions, 
affections, and a conscience, if his co-operation is to be 
secured in the process of education. Also the special 
characteristics of childhood must be borne in mind. 
There is an aversion to mental exertion when a definite 
object is not before their mind ; but they possess 
curiosity in a high degree, which, if properly stimu- 
lated will overcome their aversion to mental appli- 
cation; they delight to display their knowledge, and 
they are ambitious to excel their fellows. 

Assuming this knowledge, it was maintained further 
that a high state of intelligence and intellectual ac 
tivity required that such facts and principles as these 
now to be enumerated should be constantly acted upon. 
Both teacher and pupil should understand that there 
is no royal road to learning, that the path is rugged 
and the toil laborious ; the interest of the pupil should 
be excited in what he is about, and this cannot be 
done if what he is engaged on is unintelligible to him ; 



THE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM. 205 

all real eflPorts should be praised, and where a dull 
child finds it impossible to excel others he should be 
encouraged to excel his former self ; as far as practicable 
the inclinations and capacity of every child should be 
studied in order to his efficient instruction ; in fixing 
the branches to be acquired, and the extent to which 
pursued, regard must be had to the probable length of 
the school life of the scholars ; and all the school 
should be kept intelligently, actively, and constantly 
employed. 

Increasing attention to the nature of education, and 
to what is essential to intellectual and moral discipline, 
made apparent that a great mistake had been coun- 
tenanced, in the opinion that any one might be en- 
trusted with conducting a school, a mistake similar in 
kind but more deplorable in results to that which gave 
operations in surgery to the village barber, or the 
healing of disease to the rustic herb dealer. Light 
began to dawn on those who concerned themselves with 
the subject, that a being of such complicated structure 
as a child, and such a noble work as its training, de- 
manded peculiar qualifications in its instructor. This 
increasing appreciation of the dependence of educational 
success on the character of its most active agent was 
manifested by the promoters of the intellectual system. 

Enthusiastic devotedness to education was claimed 
as the first requisite of a master of a school. Success, 
it was maintained, depended on the spirit of the 
master. Of the school he was to be the life and soul. 
AYhat he was his school would become. His enthu- 
siasm or indifference would spread through every class, 
his subordinates and pupils would unconsciously imbibe 



206 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

his spirit. And the hourly work would he highly in- 
vigorating and compassing noble ends; or would be 
languid and evil in its results, in proportion to the 
conception the master had of his duty, and his devotion 
to its accomplishment. 

Another step in the right direction was the claim 
that the instructor of others should himself be well in- 
structed. For, apart from such low ground as that a 
man cannot give to others what he himself possesses 
not, there are so many difficulties met with by the 
young, and the bringing their faculties into play re- 
quires so much nice skill, that it is only the man with 
large stores in hand that can successfully elucidate and 
remove the former, or who is himself a thorough student 
and observer that can acquire the latter. The dis- 
cipline which a liberal culture gives is necessary to 
enable a man to discipline others. No control can be 
had of child mind, no right direction given to its 
powers, there can be no awakening of an inner life, and 
no high aspirations excited, but by one who has been 
the subject of a similar culture in an eminently high 
degree. Besides, if the schoolmaster is not a well- 
informed man with a disciplined mind, he will be 
excluded from educated society, and so run the risk of 
becoming a man of narrow opinions and prejudices; 
and who would willingly commit a child at its most 
plastic period to the culture of such a one 1 

"Apt to teach" is an indispensable qualification. 
Long practice does not always confer this talent. 
Many with no " natural gift " certainly become by 
study and practice respectable teachers, yet those of 
the highest class owe their position, perhaps, to original 



THE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM. 207 

endowment. Be this as it may, the quality, whether 
acquired or original, is essential to success. One who 
has this aptitude has the power of winning the affec- 
tions even of the dullest, of identifying himself with 
his scholars so as to feel their difficulties — without 
which he will scarcely use right methods of surmount- 
ing them — and of presenting knowledge at the time 
and in the manner in which it is most likely to arrest 
attention and produce durable impressions. Such a 
one has the power to draw out what the pupil knows, 
to make him thus acquainted with his actual state, and 
prepared to supply with interested effort his deficiencies; 
he has also tact shown in adapting himself to the 
capacity, inclination, and want of each individual 
scholar. 

Two words express the method of this system — 
interrogation, explanation. The first elicited from 
pupils what they knew, and so made it the means of 
teaching others less informed ; the other supplied ma- 
terial for a similar process in subsequent lessons. Thus 
it was sought that nothing should be communicated 
until the learner had made an effort of his own ; the 
principle of mutual instruction was employed, and the 
process often became one of teaching the children to 
work out results for themselves, instead of taking in- 
formation simply at the mouth of their teacher. 

The reading lesson was the great instrument of cul- 
tivating the intelligence, and may certainly be taken as 
embodying all that was characteristic of the system. 
That a child, in being taught to read, should at the 
the same time Ije taught to understand what it reads, 
is so simple a truism, that it excites surprise that its 



208 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

necessity should ever have had to be insisted upon. 
Yet it was the starting point of "Wood, who early- 
realised that the mechanical part of reading might be 
so acquired as effectually to prevent the habit of being 
attained of reading with attention and profit. Without 
such a habit any other advantage can scarcely be deemed 
an adequate result of the labour demanded in the ac- 
quisition of the mere mechanical power. Still it was 
thought necessary to defend the practice. This was 
done by urging that children so dealt with no longer 
found their reading lesson an irksome drudgery, but a 
pleasant employment, the result of which was greater 
animation and energy when engaged thereon ; that as 
the children's intelligence was quickened by this pro- 
cess their progress was more rapid, as they became 
thereby quick to perceive and strong to retain the 
matter of their lessons ; and that even in the mastering 
of new words, the child, who was taught to gather the 
sense as he read, was endowed with two powers, where 
the less-favoured pupil had but one, and thus was 
more likely to make them his own quickly. 

Exposition of reading lessons may aim to give such a 
general command of the language, and such a habit of 
attention and thought, as will enable the reader to 
make his own what he reads ; or it may aim at pro- 
ducing good oral reading, or what is properly the " art 
of reading." From the attention demanded for it, it 
would seem that the latter is deemed a more desirable 
accomplishment than the former. Yet regarded rightly, 
surely the ability to make a book one's own is of much 
more importance to a man than the power to read 
aloud so that others may understand. To be able to 



THE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM. 209 

read aloud with intelligent emphasis and expression is 
certainly a valuable power, but in school it ought to 
be secondary, not regarded as an end, but rather as one 
of the tests of the power to read with profit. Wood 
seems to have formed this opinion, for he claims that 
the learner shall not be taught simply to understand 
the passage before him, but shall get a general know- 
ledge and command over his own language, and, not to 
be mistaken as to his meaning, he draws an illustration 
from parsing, which is not taught that the learner may 
be acquainted with the sentences parsed, but that he 
may have power to deal with any sentences. 

To that habit of attention while reading, to which is 
due the power of appropriating what is read, there 
must be added, if a higher discipline is sought, the 
practice of carefully weighing what is read, and c,f 
bringing up former acquisitions for its elucidation, con- 
firmation, or rejection. That the foundation of such a 
habit might be laid in school, it was thought desirable 
to give information on a variety of topics such as the 
passage might suggest, or its full examination migiit 
require. This practice was occasion of abuse. Much 
irrelevant matter was often introduced — especially as a 
word, and not the sulgect read, often suggested the 
topic or remark. 

The work of the several classes presents a few points 
of favourable comparison with the system which this 
hoped to supersede. After the alphabet was acquired, 
words of two letters took the place of Bell's ba, be, bi, 
bo, bu, and were presented to the eye in two characters, 
roman and italics, by which it was found the eye sooner 
acquired the power of recognising words. Words of 
P 



210 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

three letters followed, arranged on a principle which 
it was thought facilitated their acquisition. "Words like 
dry, cry, spy, the, were followed by such as act, ink, 
orb ; these by such as den, men, ten ; and these by 
such as die, due, dew. This course passed the child 
entered on books. Here an important step was made 
in advance. The Bible, hitherto a task book, was 
removed from its degraded position, and other books, 
interesting in matter and suitable to the intelligence, 
put in its place. 

In the method of working a reading class, apart from 
what was really the life of the system, the practice of 
spending some time daily in explanation, the most re- 
markable thing was the immense activity engendered 
by the practice of place-taking, It is interesting also 
to note — probably a consequence of this practice — that 
on no account was spelling allowed during reading. It 
had a distinct time assigned to it. 



Section IV. — The Traivwg System. 

Few men have done more for the cause of Education 
than David Stow. Few have exerted in their own 
lifetime so wide-spread an influence on education. In 
the schools that exist — on his system — he has revolu- 
tionized the ordinary system of teaching and school- 
keeping, and has affected, for good or evil, more or 
less, every other system, though founded on principles 
the opposite of his own. For along time past his prin- 
ciples and methods have engaged the attention of many 
in Europe and America interested in education, and 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 211 

they have been more or less adopted, wherever they 
have been thoroughly examined and understood. 

Like many others, whose labours have been of the 
greatest benefit to human happiness and progress, Mr. 
Stow had no purpose — in the commencement of his 
great work, — but to arrest, in his own sphere, a little of 
the tide of evil that was bearing so large a portion of 
the community to irretrievable ruin. In 1816, he — 
then a young merchant — gathered on a Sabbath even- 
ing, into a dingy apartment, in a back lane, about thirty 
young Arabs of the Salt-market, Glasgow. His aim 
was to instil religious principles ; to engage their affec- 
tions in behalf of what was right and good, and to 
lead them to the knowledge of Him, whose mission 
was to save that which was lost. He laid down for 
himself two rules, to the observance of which he traces 
much of his success in education ; — never to strike ; 
never expel. Amid all their circumstances of rags and 
filth, he viewed them as on an equality with himself, ra- 
tional, responsible, and immortal ; having minds as de- 
licate, as curious, and as complicated in structure as his 
own ; with emotions that it would be well to cherish, 
and intellectual faculties and moral powers that it would 
be possible to train. 

During ten years he laboured, making valuable dis- 
coveries, and meeting with unexpected results. At 
length, awaking to the fact that the training of the 
street was more powerful than that of the school, and 
that what was done on the Sabbath was but too effect- 
ually neutralized during the week, and anxious to have 
a wider sphere for observation, and for testing the dis- 
coveries he had made, he established an infants' day- 



212 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

school, and placed it under the care of that prince of 
infant teachers, — the late David Caughie. Calling to 
his aid Mr. Wilderspin, who was then engaged in 
establishing infants' schools, he introduced the system 
of that gentleman, supplementing it with those other 
principles and methods of religious and moral training 
which had borne, and were still producing such good 
fruit in the smaller sphere of a Sabbath-evening class. 
For seven years this work went on. During them, by 
labouring iu his Sabbath-class, by daily visits to his 
school, and working therein, by earnest inquiries in all 
directions, he increased his experience, added to his 
principles, improved his methods, and enlarged his 
views. Convinced of their soundness, and anxious to 
give wider scope to the application of his principles and 
plans, he now added to his establishment a juvenile 
school. He also made it, as he had done the other, 
the means of confirming or correcting his views, and of 
diffusing a knowledge of his aims, principles, methods, 
and results, by opening them as model schools, where 
teachers could be trained. 

Already his work had drawn to it a large share of 
public attention, and many, besides those going forth as 
teachers — ministers of the Gospel, and missionaries 
about to depart for their fields of labour, — visited the 
schools, and attended courses of lessons therein, that 
they might acquaint themselves with methods and 
principles at once so simple and efi'ective as these 
seemed, for the communication of religious and moral 
truth. At length so much had his earnest advocacy, 
his untiring zeal, his enthusiastic labours, and his re- 
markable success won upon his townsmen, that the 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 213 

Glasgow Educational Society erected a Normal Semi- 
nary, established his system therein, and gave him its 
oversight as honorary secretary. 

The establishment of the Training System in a Nor- 
mal Seminary, forms an era in the educational progress 
of this country. Before this, others had, like Mr. 
Stow, opened their schools for persons to " learn the 
system " prior to taking charge of schools. But this 
was an attempt to give students, intending teaching as 
a profession, a knowledge of educational principles, to 
furnish them with the knowledge they had to impart, 
to set before them the best examples of teaching ad- 
dressed to children in well graduated divisions, and to 
give them opportunities of teaching under criticism in 
the presence of skilled masters, after the models and to 
the same groups, as the lessons in their own presence. 
The system itself, as now established, was the first for- 
mal attempt in these islands to combine and exhibit in 
practice some original principles and methods with 
whatever had been found valuable in other systems, 
with the object of training the child in its whole nature, 
physical and mental, religiously, morally, and intellect- 
ually. " The Training System," says its founder, with 
a rare modesty, " is not so much any one system, as a 
combination of what is valuable in other systems, with 
additions, not, so far as we know, hitherto engrafted on 
juvenile schools, and the sole aim is to arrive at the 
best mode of cultivating the whole man." 

The designation " Training " was adopted partly as 
the best one for embodying the fact that no child can 
be educated unless its M'hole nature is harmoniously 
cultivated ; and partly as setting forth what was 



214 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

thought to be the peculiar distinction between teaching 
and the process now contemplated. The former con- 
sists, it was maintained, in simply setting forth before 
the child's intelligence what it should know or do ; the 
latter in taking means to have carried into practice and 
habit, what should be. But it admits of question if 
any such distinction can be maintained. " Teach me 
to live," in Ken's well-known hymn, certainly includes 
all that Stow intended by the term train, and the same 
is true of other uses of the term. Hence the designa- 
tion was unfortunate, because seemingly pretentious, 
and produced opposition from many who were consci- 
ous that their term teaching included all his term 
training. 

The proper function of the school in the education 
of a child must be understood by all who would rightly 
appreciate Mr. Stow's great work. With many the 
school is simply a place of instruction and of learning 
— a place where certain arts are first to be acquireil, and 
then applied to the acquisition of other things. This 
is their sole end and aim ; and if these are secured, 
then the school answers its purpose, and all further re- 
sponsibility is escaped from. To such it matters noth- 
ing what are the habits or character of the children, or 
the influences at work upon them, except so far as they 
affect their progress or the convenience of their instruc- 
tors. There are others who — especially when regarding 
the school for the poor — would make its aim to be, in 
some cases the formation, in all the growth of those 
habits that are necessary to the proper discharge of the 
duties and relations of life. With these, school learn- 
ing is simply an instrument for the acquisition of such 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 215 

a fitness ; its value being not in itself, but in the self- 
restraint, steady application, and habit of obedience re- 
quired from the learner. Stow claimed for the school 
a higher function, and pointed out a nobler aim. The 
idea of the family miisL be added to that of the school, 
and the duty of the parent to the responsibili- 
ties of the teacher. The school ought to be a place 
of education — of education, not in its popular sense of 
instruction, but in its real import as implying the for- 
mation of character. Looking upon the child as in 
preparation for immortality. Stow considered that both 
Scripture and reason point out that the formation of its 
character should be the great purpose of the school, as 
it is of the family, and as it is of life. 

That the school has a special function, none will 
deny ; that it is a necessity of our social condition, for 
the discipline of the intellect and the acquisition of the 
means of continuing it, is readily granted ; that the 
family does not and cannot supply that which the 
school undertakes, is true. All that is clear. The 
error to be avoided is making this its sole office. For 
no one, really impressed with the importance of the 
subject, can doubt whether religious and moral training, 
the culture of the affections, and the discipline of the 
will, which belong especially to the sphere of the 
family, should also be continued in school. "Whatever 
in these things is the duty of the parent is also the 
duty of the schoolmaster. For children cannot lose 
their right of having their highest interests cared for 
during so large a portion of their waking life as that 
spent in school, because sent there for another purpose. 
Certainly there is the highest obligation on all en- 



216 SYSTEMS OF EDQCATION. 

trusted with young immortals in their most plastic 
period, when surrounded by so many claimants to their 
affections, and acted on from without by so many evil 
influences, to do for them all that the most tender, most 
conscientious, and most Christian parent would do to 
save them from evil and train them to good. 

The function of the school is to assist and supple- 
ment, not to supersede the work of the family. It has 
to continue and strengthen that which has been begun 
and is being carried on there. But, alas ! there are 
thousands of homes where these obligations are not felt, 
where these duties are not practised. A child from 
such a home has, if possible, a stronger claim to reli- 
gious and moral culture than others. Here evil, already 
in possession, has to be neutralized, vicious habits and 
practices have to be uprooted, right principles have to 
be implanted, and virtuous habits formed. Religious 
truth and duty, and the moral obligation of right 
conduct to others, and of right regard for itself, 
have to be brought home to its conscience, and it is, 
to be trained to feel their force and to yield itself to 
their sway. 

In claiming these things as belonging to the sphere 
of the school, Stow cannot justly be charged with rais- 
ing too high a standard, nor to have sought what is im- 
practicable. To have done so would have defeated his 
purpose, for those practically engaged in school work, 
not realizing their aims, would become discouraged on 
comparing the results attained with the expectations 
formed. Interpreted by what was actually done in 
the schools under his supervision, he aimed at no 
higher results than every Christian teacher is taught to 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 217 

expect, and at nothing more than was accomplished in 
numerous instances under his eyes. 

Entertaining such views, it was a natural sequence 
that school education should be conducted on a distinc' 
tive religious basis, and that he should place moral 
training before the special work of the school. So 
strong indeed was his conviction that moral training 
should have precedence of everything else, and so ur- 
gently did he enforce it, that a distinguished writer on 
education has declared that the prominence given to it 
by him, and to the means of obtaining it, was the chief 
benefit his system had conferred on the cause of na- 
tional education. Nor was this conviction weakened 
by advancing age and experience ; rather was its hold 
of his mind the stronger, and his advocacy of it the 
more earnest. In fact, that those adopting his system 
should ever keep the importance of moral training in 
view, he urged in his later years that such schools 
should be designated Moral Training Schools. 

Moral training he places in leading the child to feel 
right, and thence to act right — that is, to act rightly 
from right motives ; and this is to be sought until the 
habit of doing so is formed, as no moral result can be 
permanent unless it exists as a habit of the mind. Such 
training implies in its course the cultivation of moral 
intelligence, the right culture of the feelings, and the 
proper discipline of the will. The developments of 
character, and the habits sought in such training, 
should include amongst other things "truthfulness, 
justice, punctuality, kindness, courtesy, forgiveness of 
injuries, fidelity to promises, and habits of obedience, 
docility, attention, perseverance, and self-control." That 



218 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION". 

these results may be obtained there must be such a 
cultivation of conscience that it will act rightly within 
its proper sphere ; and that it may do so, the ground of 
his duties to God, to man, and to himself, must be 
clearly shown to the child to be in the relations he 
sustains to God and man— relations involving the 
obligation of love, reverence, and obedience to God, of 
benevolence and justice to man, and of purity, patience 
and humility in himself. 

First among the means for this training is religious 
truth —religious truth in its precepts, these alone sup- 
plying the purest morality ; religious truth in its doc- 
trines, these only furnishing effectual motives to its 
observance. Instruction in this truth should teach the 
child the nature of duty, should furnish reasons for its' 
performance, and should supply powerful motives to 
obedience. But there is a kind of teaching which fails 
of these results. Not tliat teaching — not worthy of 
the name — that is merely verbal and textual, but a 
teaching that really aims to make the truth clear to the 
intelligence, though it goes no further than building it 
up in the mind. Such instruction, often found fruit-;^ 
ful in later life, and therefore not to be despised in the 
absence of something better, often fails altogether to 
influence the conduct of the child. This may arise in 
some cases from the fact that verbal instruction, from 
the very nature of the case, fails to convey a true con-- 
ception of the truth to the mind. In others, because 
it does not come with an authority that the child has 
learned to yield to, the great Master's will not being as 
yet felt as obligatory upon its conduct. But Stow 
thinks that it is due often to the form in which the 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 219 

truth is presented. It has not approached the child's 
mind in conformity with the laws of its nature, and 
therefore fails to awaken its attention. It should so 
come to the child as to enlist its feelings, awaken its 
sympathy, excite its conscience, and stimulate its will. 
And this it cannot do unless it is presented in such a 
form as the child can vividly realize in its imagination. 
'Now it requires little knowledge of human nature to 
see that there is really nothing of a moral character 
where feeling is not an essential element. It must 
therefore be conceded to Stow that what he demands 
in religious instruction is absolutely essential to its 
having a moral power. It must awaken feeling, or the 
moral result cannot be produced. Take, for instance, 
the command "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." 
This may be understood, assented to as reasonable, 
kept in memory, and yet be a dead letter. Why 1 Be- 
cause, though it has penetrated the intellect, it has not 
reached the heart. Now before it can do this, that 
which is lovable in God must be brought to bear npon 
the feelings. Again, how shall we get the observance 
of the golden rule? Not by simply making it clear to the 
intelligence, but by presenting it in instances in which 
it is applicable, and bringing these out in such a waj'-that 
the children shall transfer themselves into the circum- 
stances of others, and thus have brought home to them 
their present duty from what they would expect in such 
a case to receive. In this, then, we have one great 
service rendered by Stow to the cause of moral educa- 
tion. The matter must be brought out before the ima- 
gination, that the children may place themselves in thf 
circumstances of others and so enter into their feelings, 



220 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

or shall have in vividly described cases of conduct, the 
means by which they may compare themselves with a 
right standard, and so obtain those conceptions of duty, 
and those motives to do it, which are the objects of re- 
ligious and moral instruction. 

Next to religious truth among the means of moral 
training, and in fact its essential counterpart, is to as- 
sociate doing or action with knowledge or feeling. The 
child must know, feel, and act. Knowledge without 
feeling is moonshine, clear but cold ; feeling without 
action is mere sentiment. In all possible circumstances, 
therefore, doing must be enforced, and in such things 
as the teacher cannot enforce, pains must be taken to 
compare the feelings produced under a lesson, with the 
feelings and actions which come under the teacher's 
notice in their every-day life. " Training can only be 
termed moral training when precept is turned to prac- 
tice. For example, a child may know that it is right 
to give what he possesses to a poor man, but it is not 
a moral act until the corresponding feeling and exter- 
nal act follow. Neither is the action itself moral with- 
out the understanding and feeling of duty. Know- 
ledge, feeling, and practice thus combined form complete 
moral training." " I am no more under training by 
being told and shown how to make a watch, or hem a 
frill, or paint a landscape, than I am under moral train- 
ing by the truths of Scripture being presented to my 
mind, provided I am not placed in circumstances to 
practise them : I am only under training when I am 
caused to do the thing specified." " Train to genero- 
sity, or obedience, or cleanliness, or any other thing, by 
making the child practically so, no matter how trivial 



TRAINING SYSTEM. 221 

the actioi oeen told to do. If a child does a 

thing impi .ly, or neglects to do a thing it has been 
told to do, lae simplest way to check such impropriety 
is to cause the child to do the thing. This method 
will produce the habit when a threat or a scold may be 
instantly forgotten. The certainty of being obliged to 
do is better for the memory than the longest speech or 
the severest threatening." " The point here insisted 
on," says Mr. Currie, " is one of vital importance ; it 
constitutes the difference, indeed, between education or 
training and instruction. The greatest merit, as it 
seems to me, of Mr. Stow's excellent volume on the 
training system, is the prominence it gives to action in 
moral training as distinct from rule : — ' The only way 
to do a thing is just to do it.* Locke long ago enforced 
the same truth on an age not prepared to understand 
him. * And here give me leave to take notice of one 
thing I think a fault in the ordinary method of educa- 
tion ; and that is, the charging the children's memories 
upon all occasions, with rules and precepts which they 
often do not understand, and which are constantly as 
soon forgot as given. If it be some action you would 
have done, or done otherwise, whenever they forget or 
do it awkwardly, make them do it over and over again 
till they are perfect, whereby you will get these two 
advantages : — First, to see whether it be an action they 
can do, or is fit to be expected of them ; secondly, that 
by repeating the same action till it be grown habitual in 
them, the performance will not depend on memory or 
reflection, the concomitant of prudence and age, and 
not of childhood, but will be natural in them. Pray 
remember that children are not to be taught by rules 



222 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

which will be always slipping out of their memories. 
What you think necessary for them to do, settle on 
them by an indispensable practice, as often as the occa- 
sion returns, and, if it be possible, make occasions. 
This method has so many advantages, which way 
soever we consider it, that I cannot but wonder (if 
ill customs could be wondered at in anything) how it 
could possibly be so much neglected.' This is the germ 
of the training system." 

Other reasons present themselves for thus insisting 
on the necessity of action to moral training. There is 
an intimate connection between action and knowledge. 
On the one hand, many moral truths are simply ab- 
stractions, and the language in which they are expressed 
bare terms, until they are seen in action. What con- 
ception can a child form of justice, honesty, or kind- 
ness, unless it has been exhibited before it 1 On the 
other hand, there are some truths which cannot be 
learnt, some states of feeling and of intelligence which 
cannot be reached, until there has been doing. This 
is true not only of divine truth, but of much that is 
good and evil in every-day life. Another reason for 
insisting on action is found in the fact that where 
feeling and action are not associated, the mind becomes 
callous and utterly indifferent to the claims of duty. 
This is experienced — alas ! how widely! — in connection 
with the great concerns of religion. Its truths, from 
not being obeyed, come gradually to lose their power of 
stirring up the sensibilities, until at length the most 
appalling descriptions can be listened to, not only as if 
we had no personal concern in them, but as if they 
were mere fables. The heart is hardened and the eyes 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 223 

are blinded, so that hearing we hear not, and seeing 
we see not. The truth, falling on the outward ear, 
never penetrates to the mind, never touches the heart. 
Another reason for insisting on action is that no other 
method can be adopted for undoing the bad habits 
with which many come to school. The only possible 
way of removing the evil habit is by practice in its 
opposite. 

The great means of moral training being thus estab- 
lished, the next step M'-as to find the conditions which 
these means require for their effectual application. 

First, he claims that there must be a development 
of the natural aptitudes, tastes, and tendencies of the 
child, and of its acquired dispositions and habits, 
before there can be any training at all. Until these 
are known, the clue is wanting to the procedure in any 
given case. " There must be a development of character 
and disposition ere the process of training can be com- 
menced. We must actually see the habits and actions, 
hear the words, and observe the bent of the affections of 
the child." One of the things that he contends for in 
this is, that the child shall not be lost in the mass, 
shall not be treated by a method which, seeing no 
difference in children, puts them all into one crucible, 
passes them through the same mould, and subjects 
them to the samo routine ; but rather that each child's 
nature should be studied, and means employed adapted 
to its case as circumstances arise or opportunities are 
found. Doubtless, in view of the endless varieties of 
child-nature, if we accept practice as the means of 
moral training, it is a fair deduction that there shall be 
this study of the individual, and this provision for its 



224 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

wants and aptitudes. But how fai is this possible in 
school, or how far within its sphere? Where, of 
necessity, there is much that is common in pursuit and 
purpose, the means must be wisely adapted to the 
many rather than to the individual, and the one must 
be reached through what is designed for all, rather than 
by special provision ; and even when, as cases arise, 
the individual is cared for, he alone must not be 
thought of in the measures employed, but through him 
all. Still, the necessity of practice to moral training 
being allowed, and that such practice must be what 
each child needs, it is evident that the study of 
character, wants, and aptitudes is a responsibility of 
the teacher, as is also an adaptation of his measures to 
the individual, so far as the circumstances of the case 
admit. 

But it is chiefly as giving the knowledge of the 
child's character as necessary to the use of means for 
its benefit, that Stow requires a previous development 
of its habits and tendencies. Without such knowledge 
the work of the teacher must be haphazard. Whether 
he attempt the individual, or adapt his measures to 
the many, he cannot be certain that they are the best 
he might employ. Means that in some cases might 
secure a coveted result are found ineffective, because at 
random. Features of character, bias, or habit exist, 
which, being unknown, have not been provided for. 
^ay, often the purpose is defeated because the teacher, 
wanting the knowledge required, works in the opposite 
direction and for a different result than he intends. 
On the other hand, acquainted with the minds on 
which he has to work, he can economize his forces, 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 225 

and wisely order all his means to his end. Nothing 
then is at random. If he fails — as he often must, — 
it is with the consciousness that it is due to no 
omission on his part, nor to the inaptitude of his 
means, but to the presence of influences — not unknown 
— beyond his ability to reach. 

It seems to have been Stow's opinion, that to allow 
of the development he sought there must be great 
freedom from restraint, and circumstances provided in 
which the children would have not only opportunity 
but temptation to do wrong. He seems to have 
thought the former necessary to that perfect confidence 
of the children in their teacher which would allow 
them " to make him their confidant," with all openness 
and freedom, of everything that related to them. And 
he required the latter as giving the means of pointing 
out what duty is, and as necessary to the growth of 
virtuous principle. Practically, in the schools estab- 
lished by him, under the excellent masters placed at 
their head, these opinions were much modified in their 
operation. But standing apart they are open to the 
gravest doubts, if taken without very great limitation 
as to their educational soundness. 

Perfect confidence was thought to be impossible 
where fear existed. Hence his objection to corporal 
punishment and to every other practice that would be 
likely, as he thought, to induce fear. But fear is a 
legitimate state of mind, and one that it is desirable to 
produce ; not abject fear, not the emotion which makes 
its subject its slave, but that state of mind which 
avoids the wrong action because afraid of wrong itself. 
Nor is such fear incompatible with love ; nor is pun- 

Q 



226 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

ishment, administered with, this view and in the right 
spirit, inimical to that feeling of regard which would 
make the teacher a confidant of all that concerns the 
child. But seeking to establish that state of feeling 
betwixt the teacher and the child, in which it would 
freely act out itself in his presence, is not sufficient to 
warrant freedom from restraint or fear. It is very- 
probable that the evil of such freedom would exceed the 
good. Eestraint may often preserve the child from 
that " first act " which is the beginning of its ruin. 
"Who can estimate the influence on the child's future 
of a first act in what is a wrong course 1 Before that 
how many struggles it has had, how many victories it 
has won i A few more struggles and a few more vic- 
tories, and its safety is secured. But that first act 
breaks down the bulwark that was its protection. In 
that first act the citadel is taken, and the child lies 
prostrate at the foot of its foe. Freedom from restraint 
is freedom to the aggressions of evil, not freedom to 
the child. A recent popular book on life at a public 
school, where Stow's principle was the leading feature 
in its management during the head mastership of a 
man of world-wide fame, has shown the peril incurred 
by the removal of restraint, by the absence of fear. 
Where a few were benefited under that regime, hun- 
dreds, it is feared, were irretrievably ruined. 

Whether a child should be removed from temptation, 
or should have temptations put in its way, are ques- 
tions of vital moment in moral training. Stow advo- 
cated the establishment of schools to remove children 
from the temptations of the street ; but at school he 
would not remove temptations, he would rather place 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 227 

them in their way. Kow it must be granted that it is 
impossible altogether to remove a child from what may- 
be temptations to it. And as the attempt would be 
vain it would be foolish. It would also be unwise 
because it would be attempting to get free from what 
is necessary to its training. Much knowledge has to 
come by experience, especially that which fits for the 
material and social life. It is better to let a child 
touch a hot teapot — it would not do it a second time — 
than to excite a vain feeling of dread by a hasty 
" don't touch," but it would be criminal to allow the 
child to bring the scalding contents of the pot on itself. 
It would be folly to try to keep a child from those 
temptations which come necessarily with its daily life, 
but it would be criminal not to screen it from those 
iemptations by which it would be certainly overcome, 
j.nd which would be its ruin, until the power acquired 
in unalterable circumstances fits it to meet them. Then 
the best interests of the child require that it shall not 
be prevented from the encounter. So far we arc guided 
by the analogy of experience in a lower sphere. But 
to place temptations in the way of a child— different 
from those met by it in its ordinary life— cannot be 
good for it, nor yet necessary to its moral discipline. 
Tor a temptation is something that we know will 
excite a strong desire to do or get, and until there is 
an acquired power of resistance, the result would be, 
not to prepare the child to conquer, but to make it the 
slave of every fleeting desire. 

Claiming this development of character under cir- 
cumstances comparatively free from restraint, and with 
temptations not put out of the children's way, Stow 



228 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

adopted from "Wilderspin the playground as a neces- 
sary part of every moral training school. To his earnest 
advocacy of this — the " uncovered schoolroom" is due 
the fact that few schools are now erected, and none are 
thought complete without a playground. Without a 
playground the means of moral training are very imper- 
fect, and where it is wanting, Stow would not recognise 
the school as on his system at all. Apart from its 
physical advantages, yielding the means of drill, games, 
and fresh air; apart from its advantages to school work 
in letting off " steam," and invigorating for fresh intel- 
lectual effort; it is, in his opinion, the only place where 
the master can get that knowledge of character, habits, 
and actions, which he has to turn to account for the 
individual, or use for the general good. The master — 
or " trainer," as he delights to call him — " may join 
in," hut not " interfere with the sports ; " he must allow 
every child " to follow its own bent ; " he must observe 
** the varieties of tastes and dispositions " as shown in 
the occupations going on around him, " he must not 
place things out of the way, but in the way;" "amidst 
the busy scene" he "must be present, not to check, 
but to encourage youthful gaiety." All must be " free 
as air. If otherwise a full development of character 
would not take place, and while he takes no notice at 
the moment, he nevertheless marks what he sees 
amiss." 

The complement of all this was the use made of what 
occurred in the playground. " A moral review " of 
the occurrences must take place immediately on the 
return to the " covered schoolroom," or at some more 
fitting time. This he claims is necessary to the m^rai 



THE TRA.INING SYSTEM. 229 

power of the playground. Without it, its power 
would be in the direction of evil. The master must 
conscientiously take up the cases of wrong, or it would 
be better to have no playground. But such a review, 
however wisely conducted, must establish a sort of 
restraint on the conduct of the children, and the more 
constant the review the stronger the restraint. Cer- 
tainly it might be as he says a moral restraint rather 
than a physical one, but nevertheless, so far as it was 
a restraint at all, it would prevent that freedom of 
action he was so anxious to secure. But the practice 
itself we regard as an unmixed power for good, if 
carried out as Stow, or as Abbott — who so admirably 
carried out the practice — would have it. AH being 
calm, no feeling excited, no passions at play, the con- 
duct is to be quietly but graphically described — the 
actor not being indicated — the points in which the 
good or evil consisted brought out strongly, the con- 
sciences of the children appealed to as to the moral 
quality of the action, the teachings of God's word 
referred to, that there may be no misgiving, and then 
the whole thing approved or condemned by a simple 
expression of the moral judgment of children and 
teacher — with a " go and do likewise," or a " sin no 
more," as the final solemn appeal. 

Stow, though claiming such freedom for the child as 
would induce it to exhibit itself in act and speech, yet 
was aware of the hazard run, supposing the forces, at 
work wherever many are associated together, were in 
the direction of evil. He next claims that we shall 
possess ourselves of these forces and give them that 
direction which will be for the benefit of the children. 



230 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

These forces are sympathy, example acting through 
sympathy and imitation, the public opinion, and the 
moral atmosphere or moral tone of the school. It is 
to these he seems to refer in the expression *' sympathy 
of numbers." I^owhere has he defined this term ; but 
as it is of frequent recurrence, it is easy to gather from 
its connections that he refers to one or other, and at 
times to all of the forces now enumerated. 

Children, especially if nearly of an age, are strongly 
attracted to each other, and the sympathy which thus 
draws is a great force in stimulating into activity powers 
which would otherwise lie dormant. Thus it is fre- 
quently, observed that a child, with no natural bias or 
aptitude-, when placed with other children, after a time 
develops a certain amount of the same power as that 
for which these are remarkable. " You place a child 
that has no natural talent for music among children 
who possess this gift, and under their tutelage he will 
soon learn to sing. This fact has been fully substanti- 
ated in schools." Now it is important to notice that 
this force, which attracts child to child and stimulates 
each to be what it observes in the other, becomes much 
intensified by the mere aggregation of numbers. Here 
the power of sympathy becomes irresistible in leading 
the child to attempt what it sees in others. Hence 
sympathy is a great moral agent, and may be powerful 
for good or evil. In the hands of a skilful operator it 
may be the instrument of unlimited good. A. conse- 
quence of sympathy between child and child is poignant 
distress, w^hen a child finds itself excluded from the 
sympathy of its fellow?, and this distress is much the 
greater if the sympathy of his associates is against some 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 231 

act of his own. In such a case the very nature of this 
feeling would lead him to try to regain his place in the 
regard of his companions, and to obtain their sympathy 
in his favour, by avoiding that which their sympathy 
was against. 

Oneness of feeling is likely to pervade a gathering of 
children who are witnesses of the same act, or who are 
listening to the same narrative. But this feeling is 
much greater from the participation of many than if it 
were confined to a few. The hidden consciousness 
that it pervades the mass gives it an intensity which 
otherwise it could not have. It is the same under 
some circumstances with adults. Let such a catastrophe 
as that of the Surrey Music Hall occur, and the feel- 
ings experienced become intensified by the very fact of 
many possessing them. Here, then, is a power which 
judiciously used may be made greatly instrumental of 
good. Stow would have it brought into exercise in 
moral lessons and in cases of discipline. Incidents of 
conduct should be so described — not indicating indi- 
viduals — as to produce the desired feeling either in 
favour of some excellence, or against the carelessness or 
guilt of some fault. 

A common result of bringing many together with 
similar objects and pursuits is to establish — tacitly it 
may be — certain rules and customs by which everything 
is tried, and to which every one must submit. Any 
one coming into such a community is soon aware that 
this is expected from him. Nor can he remain long in 
it without wishing to stand well with it, to avoid its 
censure, and to have its approval. Every one desires 
the approval, and has a reverence for the judgment of 



232 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

the society to which he belongs. So it is in school. 
Here are rules, customs, and opinions, as stringent as 
in any other society ; and each of its members has a 
desire for its approval, a reverence for its judgment, a 
fear of its condemnation, and a dread of its scorn. It 
is in this condition that we have what is termed the 
public opinion of the school, and in it we have a force 
which insensibly moulds the actions and habits, and 
gives tone to the thinkings and feelings of all that enter 
it. *' From the day that a youth enters this new circle," 
says Long, " his thoughts and actions become unavoid- 
ably affected by the thoughts and actions of others ; it 
is, in fact, the beginning of his career as a member of 
society. He has exchanged the narrow circle of his 
family for a wider circle, which gradually embraces all 
the relations of social life. On entering the new society 
he is like a stranger who enters a foreign country ; he 
cannot do as he pleases, or as he is accustomed to do, 
but he must conform to that v/hich he iinds established. 
His words, his thoughts, his actions, in a few days par- 
take of the general tone, and the individual character 
is lost in that of the mass." Besides, the very fact of 
the tendency to desire the good opinion of his asso- 
ciates, and the influence of sympathy, will lead him to 
seek in them his example and rule of conduct rather 
than in the instructions of his master. And for the 
same reason there may be a force and effectiveness in 
their opinions and judgment far exceeding any influence 
or authority of the master. 

Hence it appears that the public opinion of the 
school is that which really moulds the character of its 
inmates. How important, then, ihat it shall be on the 



THE TKAINING SYSTEM. 233 

side of goodness and virtue ! How desirable that 
healthy influences shall be at work to give it the 
right tone ! How necessary that the influence of the 
master, his discipline, his moral control, his incessant 
activity, and his highest intelligence shall be brought 
to bear upon its formation and direction ! Else nothing 
but evil can be the result. For a school so unhappily 
situated as that where the master lacks the power or 
the disposition to establish a right public opinion and 
to work through it for the good of its members, must 
be a place of unmixed evil. In such a case the remarks 
of Reid are too true. " The influence of youth on each 
other, anywhere but in the well-regulated family, tends 
to be vicious — indeed, very generally is so, where 
numbers are long together. There is no seriousness, 
no sense of responsibility for what they say or do 
about them ; they are full of levity and frolic, light- 
hearted, short-sighted, and careless — 

" Turning to mirth all things of earth." 

Their public opinion is all in favour of a bold, reck- 
less jollity, turning the most serious subjects to ridi- 
cule, laughing at any very properly behaved one who 
may come amongst them till he becomes as bad as 
themselves ; sneering at the moral lessons of the 
teacher, which they often mimic in his absence. 
"While thus subdued before the master, they are often 
rude, rough, tyrannical, and unfeeling to each other, 
and where they escape the practice of grosser vices 
(by no means a frequent case), they learn amongst 
each other to laugh to scorn those minor virtues, 
delicacies, and proprieties, which are the outposts of 



234 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION". 

the greater. In any indolence, carelessness, neglect, 
or lesser vice, each is supported by the example of 
others, by the opinion of his fellows in its favour, or 
at least by the want of that opinion against it. The 
master is in a minority ; the energetically well dis- 
posed are in a minority, and the majority, with moie 
than the usual tyranny of a majority, carry the day in 
favour of recklessness, and a careless indifference to 
virtue. With beings so impulsive, so unreflecting, 
with little sense of duty, not much sense of decency 
or propriety, not even worldly prudence, the spirit of 
ridicule, the spirit of freedom and enjoyment, are su- 
preme ; the idle and careless are encouraged, the good 
contaminated, good principles and good habits gradually 
undermined, and a foundation is laid for evil on which 
the world soon raises a large superstructure." 

Stow, with many others, fully aware of this ten- 
dency of public opinion to become a power for evil, 
would have the master bend all his energies on enter- 
ing a new sphere, if he found it did not already exist, 
to create a right state of opinion. But he was also 
aware that the ability to do so would depend alto- 
gether on his character. He would fail unless he had 
the power of winning regard, of attaching the children 
to himself, and thus of inspiring them with respect 
for his opinions and wishes ; he would fail unless there 
existed as elements of his character consistency, justice, 
impartiality, disinterestedness, and kindness ; he would 
fail unless his example was what he wished their con- 
duct to be. But supposing the master to be the right 
man, then his first efforts must be directed to the for- 
mation of the public opinion of his school. Every- 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 235 

thing else must, give way, or be subservient to this. 
There could not be any right moral training until this 
great source and medium of influence was established. 
But let it exist, and then there would be not only a 
force ever working for good, but there would be an 
influence ready at any moment to be brought to bear 
in respect of any action on which a common judgment 
might be sought. 

The joint action of sympathy, intensified by its par- 
ticipation by many, and of public opinion, is to pro- 
duce that oneness of feeling and sentiment which, 
when in favour of right, constitutes what Stow calls 
the moral atmosphere of the school, and which,, as the 
ultimate result, forms pre-eminently the " sympathy 
of numbers." "By oft-repeated simultaneousness of 
thought, action, and emotion," says Currie, " the mass 
becomes welded together, takes on one stamp, breathes 
one spirit. . . . This is that state of feeling so 
much spoken of as ' the sympathy of numbers,' a con- 
ventional expression, but one which indicates what is 
in the first instance an absolute necessity to any train- 
ing at all, and what when established is a lever of 
irresistible power in the hands of him who can wield 
it. When the school collectively has come to have a 
soul which the teacher knows how to stir up, when he 
can lay his hand upon its pulse and feel how it beats, 
then has he the training power; not otherwise. It 
should be well noted that this training power is not a 
thing resident in the teacher alone; it lies in the 
society which forms the school. The teacher's duty is 
to form it and guide it. It is a power capable of great 
things; available in every direction of activity; at 



236 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

once the stimulus and the guide to progress. And 
when in the exercise of his prerogative he hrings it to 
bear on the faults or excellences of the pupil, it is 
instantly felt and acknowledged. The effort to acquire 
it is the teachers first trial; the establishment of it 
his great triumph." 

Such were the aims and principles advocated by 
Stow for the moral training of children. He sought 
to enlighten the conscience and to exercise it; he 
insisted on action in every case in which it was pos- 
sible to enforce it; he required a playground where, 
amidst fun and frolic, the children might exhibit them- 
selves as they were; he claimed that the conduct of 
the playground should be reviewed, and moral judg- 
ments elicited in the light of divine truth ; and he 
insisted that there should be a constant effort to form 
and guide that " sympathy of numbers " which he 
looked upon as the most powerful agent in moulding 
the character. Possessed of these he could do away 
with inferior and selfish motives, such as corporal pun- 
ishment, and would train the children to act from the 
highest principles of virtue and goodness. Such a 
" moral training school " he deemed to be one of the 
greatest blessings that could be conferred on any com - 
munity. 

The points in this system that have challenged most 
discussion are those relating to the principles and 
methods of intellectual culture, and to the peculiar 
organization which the former seem to require. Many 
things found in operation in Stow's schools were no 
doubt common to all schools, and others had been 
adopted from Wilderspin and others ; but there were 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 237 

distinctive features which, though, not new, were yet 
original. Starting with no pre-conceived theory, and 
having no purpose at first but the elevation of those 
whose degraded condition had taken such hold of his 
mind, his main principles and methods were the off- 
spring of his experience. This much must be con- 
ceded. Doubtless many an earnest worker had taught 
on similar principles and had employed similar methods, 
and here and there in some forgotten book there might 
be found expositions of similar practices. Yet Stow 
was not indebted but to his one work for his know- 
ledge of them. It is to this fact that must be traced 
both his excellences and his defects. His own practice 
was not extensive enough to show him that principles 
which are quite sound when applied to some subjects 
or to some ages, are quite inapplicable in other circum- 
stances. His wonderful success, too, in the application 
of his principles in the sphere in which they were tried, 
prevented him seeing the limits within which each was 
sound and efficacious. Hence he pushes things too far. 
He does not see that seemingly opposite principles, 
which within certain limits harmonize in their work- 
ing, when pushed beyond their sphere, neutralize each 
other. Here is the secret of the opposition which his 
system has in many cases encountered. Had he but 
claimed for each principle or method its legitimate 
value, had he but well-defined the nature, operation, 
and sphere of each, he would have secured acceptance 
where, as it was, he too often excited scorn. 

A leading principle of Stow relating to the culture 
of the intellect is that the master's mind should be the 
constant source of the pupil's activity, instruction, and 



238 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

training. Others than he " might gain great expert- 
ness in forms of questioning, in dealing with the me- 
chanical, and in points of order ; but for awakening 
thought, stimulating and directing inquiry, and evolv- 
ing energies of intellect," none but he could succeed. 
" To submit for hours daily the finest mechanism on 
earth — the human spirit with all its intellectual ener- 
gies and capabilities — to be handled or tossed about " 
by inexperienced youth or crudely-formed minds, such 
as those at work in the schools of that period, was 
thought to involve peril to the agents themselves, and 
to be one from which valuable results to the pupils — 
not to say the highest — could never be obtained. Those 
employed were too young to make impressive or attrac- 
tive, or anything but .a drudgery, what was necessary to 
stimulate the intellect or to awaken moral power. The 
character was too immature — wanting in depth and 
power — to mould rightly by its own silent influence 
those around. The ability to create an atmosphere — 
genial and gladdening — the moral life of which should 
be of the healthiest, could not exist. And it was 
thought that the very poor, whose school life is of the 
shortest, and whose means of intellectual culture are of 
the scantiest, have peculiar claims to be put into con- 
stant intercourse with the highest order of mind and 
intelligence that it is possible to secure. 

That the mind of the master and of the pupil might 
be in immediate contact all the livelong day would 
require not merely a new arrangement of existing 
schools, but an altogether different class of school. 
Hence, as a proper sequence, there grew up at Grlasgow 
the system of " graded schools," where each school was 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 239 

in fact "but one large class, pursuing the same studies 
and receiving the same lessons under an adult master. 
In these schools, the large group forming each school 
was broken up into smaller groups only for the repeti- 
tion or recapitulation of lessons previously given by 
the master. In other places not so favourably circum- 
stanced, or where the thing was misapprehended, the 
grossest absurdities were practised by attempts to carry 
out this principle. Thus, a huge gallery was erected, 
on which were gathered children of ages varying frora 
six to thirteen, and of course of very different attain- 
ments and capabilities, to be instructed at the same 
time in the same subject. The idea is sufficiently ludi- 
crous. It would be thought that no sane man or prac- 
tical teacher could ever dream of instructing with equal 
efficiency, at the same moment, in the same lesson, a 
hundred children varying to the extent these did in 
age and attainment. Yet the thing was attempted in 
hundreds of instances. Naturally it broke down, and 
though such schools were said to be on his system, yet 
Stow's first principle was sacrificed or acted on but in 
a very modified form. In other places, especially in 
America — a few years ago Ohio alone possessing 120 — 
groups of graded schools were established, and the 
principle fairly worked out. 

But is the principle, broadly stated as it has been, 
itself a sound one 1 A principle which gives the entire 
intellectual culture of the pupil into the hands of the 
master — nay, more, that requires that every mental 
effort of the pupil in school shall be stimulated and 
directed by the action of the master's mind — is thia 
sound? We think not. But let us be understood. 



240 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

We strenuously advocate that the master shall place 
himself frequently every day in contact with his chil- 
dren's minds for intellectual and moral culture. But 
we think that an unsound principle, which seems to 
make no recognition of the learner's independent efforts 
in order to his intellectual growth. Fully carried out 
this principle would do away with text-hooks as use- 
less things, would do away with the independent exer- 
tion of the pupil's own mind, and prevent him having 
the opportunity of employing any of his previous ac- 
quisitions, except as required by the master. The pupil 
is simply an instrument on whose strings it is only the 
master's privilege to play. In fact, Stow U too sweep- 
ing. It is the swing of thy pendulum to the opposite 
extremity of the arc. Up to this time too little value 
had been attached to the living voice in elementary 
training. The work of the teacher was only to hear 
and correct what his pupils had prepared. Stow 
discovered that oral lessons made lads sharp and intelli- 
gent, and from the extreme of doing nothing for them, 
he rushed to the opposite of doing everything. Now 
there can be no question that in early childhood and in 
the commencement of entirely new studies, the master's 
mind should be the source of the pupil's acquisitions 
and of his activity. But it is of equal importance that 
as he gains power, he shall have opportunities to exert 
it without aid. It is also true that a master's help is 
often more valuable to a pupil after he has exerted 
himself, than it would be in removing difficulties from 
his path, or even in enabling him to master them. 

The mistake of Stow on the one hand, and of those 
whose practices he wished to avoid on the other, is not 



THE TRA.INING SYSTEM. 241 

seeing that for the intellectual growth of the child two 
things are necessary. Teaching, which belongs to the 
province of the master, is the one ; learning, which is 
the work of the child, is the other. The former re- 
quires that the master shall provide suitable nourish- 
ment for each mental capability, that he shall stimulate 
each mind to action, that he shall direct the employ- 
ment of its energies, that he shall solve its difficulties, 
and that he shall enlarge its views. 

Learning, on the othe^- hand, requires the indepen- 
dent exertion of the pupil's own mind, and the oppor- 
tunity of employing, unaided, any of his previous 
acquisitions. It requires that suitable books be placed 
in the learner's hands, that he shall be taught to pre- 
pare his lessons, to dig out meanings for himself, and 
to meet and if possible master difficulties. U o com- 
bin teaching and learning is one of the severest prob- 
lems in an elementary school ; but that teacher who 
sets himself resolutely to solve it will be more success- 
ful than even his more talented neighbour, whose sole 
dependence is his ability to teach. 

Another principle advocated by Stow is that in 
teaching nothing should be told, that by a proper use 
of analogy, experiment, instance, or other mode of 
illustration the pupil may be led to discover. This 
valuable principle is really but a part of a more general 
expression that in everything relating to the formation 
of character there is required a training to action and 
self-help. This principle fully carried out would be 
found materially to limit the operation of the former 
one. In fact it would make imperative that the learner 
shall be trusted in all those cases in which he can 



242 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

master difficulties without extraneous aid. But it has 
not full scope in Stow's system, as the child's mind is 
always supposed to be in contact with a superior one, 
no provision being made or intended for unaided effort 
by the child. Still as a principle to be acted on in 
oral lessons it received his earnest support, and indeed 
is often put forth by him as the special feature of his 
system. It forms on the intellectual side. that distinc- 
tion between teaching or telling and training, which 
distinguished, as he contended, his methods from those 
ordinarily prevalent. Though how there could be 
teaching of the highest kind where this principle was 
absent, it is impossible to see. 

Another leading principle of Stow's was that the 
pupil shall commit nothing to his memory but what hai? 
passed through the understanding. Strong objection 
has been taken to this by many opponents to his sys- 
tem. Is it certain that they have understood his 
meaning 1 It has become an axiom through the labours 
of the followers of Pestalozzi and of Wilderspin that 
in the training of infants " ideas shall precede words." 
Stow would have the instruction of boys and youths 
carried out in the same sense. Clear insight into a pro- 
cess should be substituted for blindly following a rule, 
and a general cultivation of the intelligence for that of 
the verbal memory. Other meaning than this it may be 
safely predicated he had not. Some opinions attributed 
to him are opposed to many places in his writings, and 
certainly to the practices of his schools. Yet as there 
are very important principles involved, a brief notice 
of some of the suppositions may not be without its use 
in defining the limits of the points in dispute. 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 243 

Some have attributed to him " that no facts shall be 
acquired by children unless the principles under-lying 
them are first made clear — no words shall be committed 
to their memories, nor even employed in their hearing, 
unless previously explained and thoroughly understood '* 
To state this is to answer it. No man of ordinary in- 
telligence, with opportunities of observing childhood, 
and with the habit of reflecting on what comes under 
his notice, could for a moment imagine such a thing. 
Take for instance — words. How often, from earliest 
infancy, must many fall as mere sounds upon the ear, 
and how long through this must there be familiarity with 
them, before there can be the least glimmering of the 
things they represent ; — and as to their full import, that 
can be reached only by many steps of approximation. 
How many words children acquire, with whose meaning 
it is impossible for them to become acquainted, is 
matter of daily observation, nor could it be prevented 
even if it was desirable. Words are often to learners 
the instruments by which they become acquainted with 
things. Many a quality would escape notice, many a 
thing be unobserved, but for stored words quickening 
the senses and stimulating the faculties. 

To get at Stow's meaning, we must have before us 
what was in his mind when he so strenuously insisted 
that words and things should be broken down to the 
intelligence of the young, as the means of finding them a 
permanent place in the memory. He had in view the 
almost universal practice then of making school lore a 
mere matter of rote. Verbiage, by dint of repetition, 
stimulated by the twigs of the birch, was laid on the 
memory, to the great peril of the intellect, often to its 



244 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

extinction. Yet it was thought that this loading of the 
memory with forms, signs and rules, was the surest 
way, jDermanent though not speedy, of ensuring the 
discipline of the intellect. Schooltime was not the 
period of such discipline, but the storing time of the 
material. The real discipline would be at the later 
period, amid the facts, realities, and opportunities of 
life. Then that laid up in school would come to have 
meaning and power, and he that had the largest store 
would win the most. There is something in this : for 
instance, one whose mind was well filled with the 
principles of English, would obtain sooner and perhaps 
a better discipline from sterling writers of English than 
others wanting that preparation. But would this be 
the case with all 1 Would not the majority be deterred 
by the recollection of schoolwork, from following 
the pursuits that were to give such work its value ? 
Stow doubted of the many, and found in the early life 
of the child a warrant for the other practice. From 
its birth, ideas enter the mind through the senses of 
the child, and rules of action are acquired from expe- 
rience of realities ; hence Stow sought to continue 
the process in school. Much that the child learns is 
not understood. Many words are picked up by it 
whose meanings are hidden till a large experience sheds 
its light over them. The same thing must go on in 
school and in life. But alongside of it Stow demands 
that the other process shall run — that in the work of 
the school the learner's attention shall be directed to 
the sense as well as to the form. Though it be true 
that much that a child learns in school must remain 
without significance till a later time, though it be true 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 245 

tliat much of the real discipline coming to him from 
his .'jchool course will be the result of applying what 
he learns there in the pursuits of later life, yet great 
advantage in present discipline and future power must 
accrue from cultivating the intelligence in school. 

Some have understood this principle to warrant the 
offering to children reasons for everything taught to 
them, while others have understood it to advocate the 
training of the logical faculty from the earliest period. 
Such as would give reasons for everything are of course 
opposed to dogmatic teaching, and in their practice ap- 
peal continually to the understanding to justify every- 
thing they teach. Now, apart from the point whether 
children should be confined to what they can under- 
stand—and, if so, how narrow, how contracted the 
area of instruction, — it cannot but be full of peril to a 
child to be continually addressed, as if it must be con- 
vinced by argument and reason, before it receives what 
is taught. Conceit would be the least evil fostered by 
such a course. A sceptical habit must be induced, a 
habit of rejecting everything the reason of which is 
not on the surface. But the thing itself is wrong ; for 
not only are many things, which children cannot be 
prevented knowing, beyond their insight as to causes or 
reasons, but childhood is especially the season of faith, 
and to this principle of faith it is incumbent on us to 
address much of our teaching. Let us make matters 
as clear as we can. Let us be careful to give where we 
can ideas with words, to make clear processes, to bring 
within the intelligence the facts we give, but let us not 
appeal to our pupils, as if their understanding was to 
be the arbiter of truth, or their ability to see the rea- 



246 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

sons of a thing the ground on which they are to give 
it their assent. No ! The principle of authority is 
essential in early education, and if not rightly employed 
then, submission of the intellect to divine truth at a 
later period must not be expected. 

ls"or does Stow's rule imply that the logical faculty, 
as such, is to be trained from the earliest period. This 
faculty works by signs, which are representatives of 
generalizations from a large experience. There can be 
no proper culture of its higher functions until the ma- 
terials on which it has to work have been laid up in 
the intelligence. Its office is to elaborate from multi- 
tudes of facts and ideas more general ideas, from pre- 
mises already in possession to draw conclusions, and by 
a gradual but constant approximation to arrive at truth. 
Isow, ere this can be attempted, the mind must have 
been stored with ideas, words must have been acquired, 
and facts of all kinds and from all sources must have 
been lodged in the memory. Hence it follows that the 
cultivation of the logical faculty, as such, is not merely 
out of place at an early period, but impossible. Bat, 
nevertheless, there is an " implicit exercise" of this 
faculty, long before the individual comes to the consci- 
ous exercise of it, in its ultimate sphere. Judgment 
and its associated acts of mind, are manifested from 
the very earliest infancy, the mind then acting on 
things present to the senses in a similar way to what it 
does at a later time on its own creations. Comparison 
and inference are not strange acts even to a young 
child. Now, so long as the matters are within the 
sphere of its intelligence, most valuable results may be 
expected from the right culture of this implicit judg- 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 247 

meut and incipient reason, care being taken not to tax 
the nascent faculty beyond its power. 

This is what Stow would have done. Thousands of 
things exist around on which a child may be exercised 
in discovering relations, resemblances, and proximate 
causes. Many things may be brought before it in such a 
way as to elicit " how ? " to be followed by " in this way," 
each involving an intelligent act of the mind, and an 
implicit exercise of the understanding. And many a 
process may be made to excite a higher intelligence, by 
evolving it from the simple reasons not beyond the 
child's ability to master — which underlie it. 

Another principle advocated by Stow is that in teach- 
ing any subject its outlines should be given first, and 
in subsequent lessons the details. As thus stated, few 
things could be imagined more absurd when placed 
alongside of his dictum, that things must pass through 
the understanding before being charged on thememory.i 
Outlines express results. They are summaries, general- 
izations, chief heads. To give these first would be to 
do what he so strongly condemned as the vice of the 
school system of his time, and would efi'ectually pre- 
vent the admission of any subject into the understand- 
ing. The natural order is to gather facts first. There 
can be no science until the facts are known. There must 
be language before there can be a grammar, and the 
facts of a language must be known before the study of 
its grammar can commence. Begin the study of a lan- 
guage by taking an outline of its grammar, and intel- 
ligence will be slow to follow. The more meagre the 
outline the more difficult the process, and so with other 
things. 



248 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Stow meant no such thing. Tet two of his fol- 
lowers, earnest workers for thirty years past in the 
educational field, run away with by this notion, have 
introduced extensively into schools lesson books in 
science and Scripture, professedly framed on the plan 
of giving the outlines first, the result being what might 
have been expected. In the former books the young 
mind, which longs for flowers and fancies, is put into 
a valley of bones, very many and very dry. In the 
others, every little touch of nature that gives charm to 
the narrative, or that would come home to the sympathy 
of the child is rigidly excluded — shut out by the rule 
of giving the outline first. Stow intended no such 
thing; in fact, he means the very reverse. Em- 
ploying the figure of a painter as descriptive of the 
work of the teacher, he urges the latter to give those 
facts connected with a subject that are prominent — 
likely to fall within the child's experience, and with 
which it will readily sympathize, ere he offers those 
facts which from their very nature demand a large 
acquaintance with the subject before they can be ap- 
proached at all. Thus to give the outlines of grammar 
would in Stow's meaning include such special facts as 
would come under a learner's cognizance, and prepare 
him for an intelligent study of the subject. He would 
have patent facts acquired before niceties of inflexion, 
peculiarities of idiom, or any such details were ap- 
proached. Such a course is, in fact, the only legitimate 
way of bringing any subject within the grasp of 
children, or of making the course of instruction to 
accord with mental aptitudes and development. 

Dealing with rude and untutored minds, whose 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 249 

energies he wished to awaken and direct to noble ends, 
it was an early problem with Stow as to the most 
effective meaDs of doing so. Seeking willing co-opera- 
tion at their hands, he must have a method, which 
would not only convey truth to the intellect, but that 
would exercise strong interest in the process, and that 
would make them fellow-helpers in working it out. 
Knowing the power of such works as " Cinderella," 
*' Children in the Wood," " Jack and the Bean Stalk," 
with young children, and of " Eobinson Crusoe '* 
and " Pilgrim's Progress " with older ones, he found 
in them the method he sought. Soon he became aware 
that an engine of great educational power was possessed 
by him who could excite the conceptive faculty, operate 
on the fancy, or bring the imagination of children into 
play. *' Picturing out in words " henceforth became 
a constant feature of his method, and a chief in- 
strument for awakening intellectual and moral life. 
" Picturing out " aims to transfer a picture, idea, or 
conception, from the mind of the teacher to that of 
the pupil. The analogy is that of the painter, who 
does by the pencil what the teacher is expected to do 
by his words. This analogy suggests a sufficiently 
difficult process. It being much harder to paint to 
the imagination by words, so as to give distinct and 
complete conceptions, than it is by the pencil. Words, 
as they pass from the lips of the teacher are evanescent, 
while each stroke of the pencil is permanent. Besides 
the pupil has to form his own picture from the mate- 
rials with which he is provided, and can do it but 
gradually; but the scene on the canvas is presented as 
a whole, and may be taken in at a glance, or examined 



250 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

in detail. This process of painting in words — " pic- 
turing out," consists in graphic description, aided by 
analogy, familiar illustrations, and suitable gestures. 
To these Stow would add interrogation, ellipses, simul- 
taneous answers, and sympathy. But here he evidently 
confounds devices which a teacher may employ to 
carry his pupils alonj^ with him, or to discover how 
far successful he is in getting them to form the picture 
with what alone is essential to the picturing process. 
These things may be of advantage where picturing in 
words is employed, but do not constitute any part of 
the process itself. 

Stow offers the method of picturing in words as 
applicable to every subject and at every age. This is 
akin to the offer to cure every ailment by one specific. 
It is as if the mind had not a variety of powers, as if 
these had no law of development, and as if there were 
not differences in the subjects on which it employs its 
energies. Into this absurdity Stow was led by a very- 
preposterous notion, or perhaps it would be nearer the 
truth to say that paternal affection for the method led 
him to adopt the notion, " that every word either re- 
presents an object or a combination of objects, or may 
be represented by words representing objects." !Now, 
to this, it is sufficient to reply that words not only 
represent things, but processes and relations, and that 
while some of the former admit of being " pictured 
out," the latter are out of its sphere. The origin of 
many words is involved in obscurity; other words, 
though derived from sensible objects, have completely 
lost their original meaning, and are now expressive of 
purely mental states ; others relate to intellectual opera- 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 251 

tions whicli have no counterpart whatever in the 
world of sense. Hence the sphere of the method is 
much more contracted than was claimed for it, but in 
that sphere it is not only effective but indispensable. 

First, it must be conceded that certain classes of 
words admit of the application of this method. It 
will help to determine what these are, when it is 
remembered that to picture out words is to take the 
ideas embodied in the words, and to spread them out 
before the mind, so as to make the things for whicli 
they stand visible to the mind's eye. Picturing out 
words, therefore, may be looked upon as the means by 
which a child is enabled to form an idea of the thin^r 
which the word represents when there are no means 
of presenting the thing itself to the child's senses. 
It is thus one of three ways by which a child's mind 
is furnished with ideas or mental pictures of things. 
These ways are, presenting the object itself for exami- 
nation, presenting a drawing of it, and describing in 
words aiding the description with suitable gesture and 
familiar illustration. The last is picturing out, and l^ 
inferior to the other two, except as a preparatory pro- 
cess, when it excites interest and leads to an exami- 
nation of the object with closer attention. Suppose, 
as a simple instance, that the word cube occurred in a 
reading lesson, and it was found that no child had any 
knowledge of the thing, the idea would be best given 
by placing a cube before the class for examination, and 
drawing attention to what was essential to it, in com- 
parison with other things; or a fairly correct idea 
might be given by drawing a cube on the black-board. 
But supposing that the means are not at hand to adopt 



252 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

either of tliese modes, then by a verbal description, 
illustrated by reference to a slate, or a page of the 
book, or anything at hand for the ideas of a square 
and of surface, and by a motion of the hand describing 
a cube a child might be led to form an idea, so far 
accurate as to enable him to pick out a cubical figure 
from a number of dissimilar objects. 

Such a method of verbal description of things re- 
presented by words is indispensable to every teacher 
who would rightly deal with the reading lesson. 
Occasions are demanding its exercise every day, and 
it deserves — as from the teacher alive to the importance 
of vivifying the reading lesson it will receive — the 
most strenuous efforts to acquire skill in it. But it is 
to be feared that few teachers know its value. Few 
students in training at Normal Colleges, except such as 
come from infants' schools, ever attempt more than to 
explain — that is, to give synonymous expressions, or 
a loose paraphrase of words, when engaged on what 
they misname exposition of a reading lesson. 

But the method is of wider application than to 
words. Scenes, persons, and things, near or remote, 
of other times or other lands, or at home and now, 
admit of being vividly presented and conceived. 
"When words as representatives of things are dealt 
with, the idea-forming faculty alone is brought into 
exercise. But now a higher effort of mind, though 
one involving this, is required. Imagination is ap- 
pealed to when a scene, or a person not present, is to 
be realized. In common with the process on words, 
the conceptive power must be in play, either in form- 
ing new ideas or recalling old ones. The materials 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 253 

entering into the picture must be of familiar things, 
and these must be summoned vividly into the mind. 
This is essential. Mistake here will spoil the process. 
If the parts of the picture are not ideas which the 
pupils have already formed, the picture as a whole 
cannot enter their minds^. The want of attention to 
this is a fruitful source of failure. Many a good 
lesson in promise is spoiled because care was not taken 
to ascertain that the children actually possess the ideas 
attached to the words employed. 'Twas but the other 
day that a teacher discovered, at the close of a lesson, 
that a very animated and graphic description was in- 
effective, because he had not thought it necessary to 
ascertain if his children had the idea of a 'plain, before 
commencing his picture. 

Taking care, then, that nothing is introduced into 
the picture of which the children have not a distinct 
idea, care must be further exercised that out of the 
materials thus presented they do construct the picture 
intended. This will always be the more difficult as 
the object or scene differs from the children's ex- 
perience. The further removed from this, the greater 
the difficulty tney will have, and the greater the 
graphic power required in the teacher. One thing to 
be guarded from is the children losing themselves in 
the details: they will fail, unless the teacher is watch- 
ful, to combine the parts together. It is a mistake 
often made, that because children see clearly each part 
as the teacher goes on, they therefore see the con- 
nection between them, and grasp the whole. Another 
point to be secured is that the analogies and illus- 
trations employed to aid the children to form a picture 



254 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

of the whole, are drawn from the surroundings of the 
children rather than from the reading of the teacher. 
In the latter case there is the danger of supposing that 
what is familiar to his own mind will be equally so to 
the minds of his pupils. When illustrations are not 
drawn from the sphere of common life, they them- 
selves need illustrating ; and analogies not so formed 
are riddles. 

The importance of picturing out during the period 
of child-life to which it is applicable, will be readily 
acknowledged by all those who know the part played 
by the imagination in the process of mind-growth ; and 
especially in child happiness. Picturing fills the mind 
with bright images, on which children will love to 
linger, long after drier lessons would have faded away. 
These pictures should be drawn from the whole field of 
natural phenomena, from the manners and customs of 
other lands, and from the records of the past. Special 
value belongs to word picturing in Bible Lessons. Here 
it is invaluable in giving point, purpose, and permanency 
to incident and narrative, that would otherwise fail to 
impress, because of their familiarity. 

"Picturing out " was intended by Stow as part of a 
larger process, having for its object the discipline of 
the intellectual faculties, rather than the communica- 
tion of knowledge, or the furnishing the mind with 
ideas. Not undervaluing the latter, and knowing well 
the power of his instrument to effectually accomplish 
it, yet he wanted something higher for the scholar than 
this of itself could supply. He desired that children 
should go forth to the encounter of life with minds 
disciplined by right modes of culture. Mere know- 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 255 

ledge acquired at school is necessarily scanty and frag- 
mentary, and is soon lost after school life is ended, but 
the discipline accruing from the action of right methods 
remains the heritage of the pupil, and the means of 
his future advancement. The method he proposed 
was embodied by him in the formula, " Not to tell any- 
thing to children, which ^ by a proper use of analogy 
and illustration, they can be led to discover." To this 
method he applies the term " training," or " training 
out." 

This term we deem an unfortunate one. It seems 
to imply that what you have to teach is already in the 
pupil's mind, and that you have but skilfully to educe 
it. Besides, it is apt to be confounded with the term 
development, as applied by Pestalozzi to the calling 
forth by appropriate exercise some latent faculty. It 
is a faulty term, then, because it does not exactly des- 
cribe the process intended. It is faulty, also, because 
the same term is applied by him to a dissimilar, though 
in one particular, analogous process. It is in this 
analogous fact, that we find his reason for using the 
term. Self-exertion is the predominant feature in 
moral training, and as this is involved in " not teUing," 
Stow applies the same term to both processes. By 
"training," doubtless he meant to indicate a process in 
which the pupil was to discover rather than to receive, 
and as the former implies more energetic doing on the 
part of the child than the latter, he thought he was 
warranted in applying to the intellectual what had been 
long before appropriately applied to the moral process. 

It is somewhat difficult to state in words what the 
method is, so as to give an accurate notion of it to thos© 



256 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

that have not witnessed it. Its principal ideas may no 
doubt be clearly set forth, but though these may be 
understood, it is not clear that the method itself is. 
The absurdities that have passed under its name, 
practised even by those who had had the advantage of 
special training, sufficiently show this. A notice of 
these, with a few slight sketches of its right applica- 
tion, may perhaps convey a faint notion of the method. 

The leading ideas involved in the method are, that 
children shall from facts known or communicated infer 
other facts, or establish for themselves the principles 
underlying the facts ; and that in doing so, they shall 
receive no assistance from the teacher in the way of 
suggestion. It is his business to supply the data on 
which their minds have to be exercised, and to employ 
analogies to indicate the course to be pursued. The 
method may have been suggested by that of Socrates — 
whose was a method in which, by a skilful adaptation 
of his questions to the previous answers, it was made 
to appear as if the pupil was instructing himself, 
rather than being instructed. 

Among the absurdities that have passed under the 
name of " training out," may be mentioned the notion 
that has run away with some people, that in teaching 
nothing is to be told. This is absurd. Many matters 
of fact must be communicated. To attempt otherwise 
is a waste of time, if not attended by even worse 
results. The art of the teacher is shown in communi- 
cating what is indispensable and no more, and in com- 
municating it as material out of which the pupils are 
to frame their own ideas and thoughts under his 
f^uidance. From the notion that nothing is to be told, 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 257 

or from an entire misapprehension of the method, some 
question in such a way as to elicit nothing but guesses, 
or they string a lot of questions together so as to get 
out what they want, but at the same time to be as far 
as possible from getting it by legitimate inference. 
This fear of telling anything is carried sometimes to the 
ridiculous length of not telling even the subject of the 
lesson. That is to be got at by a succession of guesses. 
On one occasion a lesson was introduced by a question 
as to what would be found in the Great Exhibition ? 
After expending half-an-hour in fruitless guesses, in 
in which every imaginable thing was named, one lucky 
urchin exclaimed, "a button," when the class was 
gravely informed " Yes, our lesson is to be on buttons." 
Another mistake, which passes under the name of 
*' training out " is, that it is the getting of words from 
the class. Sometimes eliciting words is a valuable pro- 
cess, especially in connection with reading, as it serves 
to bring out the distinctions between nearly synonj'- 
mous words, and besides adding to the learner's stock 
of words, is a good analytic exercise, but the doing ^o 
is not necessarily an inferential process. Sometimes 
time is wasted in trying for a word, where the better 
plan would be to give the word required. For instance, 
it often occurs that after a teacher has clearly developed 
an idea in his pupils' minds, he questions them for the 
most appropriate expression, not seeing that this really 
implies that the idea had been theirs before. Eut sup- 
posing that in this case, by some happy chance the 
right word is obtained, still the process was not one of 
training, inference, or induction. Of other modes of 
word getting, there are two varieties. Sometimes a 



258 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

teacher wanting a word puts out a feeler for it. His 
question elicits an answer, his treatment of which gives 
the clue to his class, and they ransack their stores for 
all words similar in sound or sense, it matters not 
which, until they put their hands on the right one. 
The other mode is of so ludicrous a nature as to have 
attached in the minds of many teachers the utmost 
contempt to "training out," nothing better under that 
name having been under their notice. We refer to the 
not uncommon practice of getting out two or three 
words, and of combining them to get the word sought. 
This, instead of being a training process, is a sugges- 
tive one, and seldom fails to involve the employer of it 
in the ridiculous. One or two actual instances may be 
given to show our reference. A teacher in a lesson on 
the cuticle, for which he wanted from the class the 
name scarf-skin, proceeded to get it by asking for an 
article sometimes worn round the neck, and after some 
trouble got the word " scarf; " then pointing to the skin 
obtained the word skin. " Now," said he, " this skin 
is therefore the scarf-skin." Another, giving a lesson 
in geography, and wanting the name of a town evi- 
dently unknown to his class, proceeded — What are the 
people in Wales called 1 Obtaining his answer, and 
describing a hole filled with water, he led them to call 
it a pool — ^'then the name of this town is — Welshpool ^ 
Another, giving a lesson on the lever, and wanting the 
term fulcrum, proceeded thus— " When your mother 
pours your tea into the cup till it can hold no more, what 
do you say the cup is % " Full. " And when she has 
been cutting bread, m hat is there on the table about 
the loaf? " Crumbs. "Then this is the— fulcrum:' 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 259 

^Nothing could be more ridiculous, as specimens of 
teaching, than the foregoing, yet they are not uncom- 
mon instances of what are deemed training-out pro- 
cesses. 

The simplest instance of the right application of the 
method is where you lead to the discovery of facts by 
the way of inference from other facts, For example, 
in a lesson on the Rhine, two points are named, its 
source and Basle, and giving the rapidity of the stream 
the children infer the great difference in level, or giving 
the difference in level they infer the rapidity of the 
stream. A lengthier example is given by Stow of a 
teacher leading children to infer that in Egypt kilns 
were not used in making bricks. 

A higher application of the method is in reading or 
Scripture lessons, when it is employed to discover the 
meaning of the writer. Thus, in the question put by 
Job, " How oft is the candle of the wicked put out ? " 
After showing that according to the placing of the em- 
phasis, and by the tone in which it is uttered, it is sus- 
ceptible of opposite meanings, the question comes up, 
"Which is the true one 1 In conducting to the answer, 
reference is made to hot countries, to dangers from ser- 
pents, to the fact that lights are used to scare them 
away — then Who can afford to keep lights always? 
The rich. ISTow, suppose a house always lighted at 
night suddenly ceases to be lighted, the candle is put 
out. What is the inference? The man has be- 
come poor. Then refer to the scope of Job's argu- 
ment. His friends had maintained that afflictions in 
this life are signs of God's displeasure ; he contends 
for the opposite, and asks — How oft is the candle 



260 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

of the wicked put out? The children are then ex- 
pected to infer the truth for which Job was con- 
tending. 

Another application of the method requires the 
highest teaching ability, and secures, where practised, 
the best mental discipline. It is sometimes called 
the historic method, or when applied to the right 
class of subjects, the inductive method. It consists 
in conducting the pupils through the various pro- 
cesses of thought, by which a certain result is 
reached; or in taking them along the path of ob- 
servation, hypothesis, and experiments by which 
discoveries have been made. Thus in a lesson on 
the Davy lamp, the matter was so treated, that the 
learners suggested the doubts, hypotheses, and expe- 
riments through which it might be supposed that 
the inventor himself passed ere he succeeded in his 
object. It must be remembered that the essence of 
the method consists not in laying before the pupil the 
processes of thought, as is done in Euclid, but in so 
skilfully touching the intellect with questions or 
facts, that he may discover and pursue these pro- 
cesses for himself. Than this no other method 
yields, when employed at the proper age, such valu- 
able results. For while books give the results of 
others' thinking, this leads the pupils along the path 
by which such results were obtained. Suppose a boy 
acquainted with addition and multiplication, to sit 
down without the aid of books or tutors, to discover 
for himself the methods and rules of division. Sup- 
pose him after much thinking, after repeated efforts 
and repeated failures, to hit upon them and to be 



THE TRAINING SYSTEM. 261 

able to verify each of Ms conclusions— no one would 
deny the mental discipline of such a process. Well, 
suppose the same done under the stimulus of a 
teacher's questioning, and under the correction of a 
teacher's knowledge, and you have an example of 
"training-out" and nearly the same amount of mental 
discipline as in the first supposition. 

Other points connected with intellectual culture in 
Stow's system are those of oral or collective lessons in 
which a text-book is not employed, and the use of 
ellipses and simultaneous answers. These were adopted 
from the infant school, partly from the life and vigour 
which their right use excites in a large group of chil- 
dren, and partly because they allow just that degree of 
assistance from the teacher which stimulates but does 
not supersede the scholars' efforts. The independent 
oral lesson was advocated on other and higher grounds, 
as in fact the only one which gives the teacher the 
opportunity of taking his pupils through processes of 
discovery, and of thought leading to discovery, and as 
furnishing the only occasion in which the higher form 
of training-out can be employed. These were exten- 
sively adopted, even where Stow's methods were not 
accepted, but there has come lately a reaction, which 
threatens— to the great detriment of educational pro- 
gress—to banish them from the elementary school. ^ 

In concluding these imperfect notes of the training 
system, it is but right to refer to the great services ren- 
dered by those employed in the Glasgow Institution, 
both in working out the system, and in putting some 
of its methods into a practical shape. We extract on 
this point the following remarks from a recent article 



262 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

by Mr. William Siigden, who was himself an able and 
energetic worker for years in that institution, and who 
has conducted with singular ability and success a 
Normal College in London on the training system : — 
" Like most men who have been eminent in carrying 
on great works, Mr. Stow seems to have been skilful 
"'n selecting and attaching to himself able fellow- 
labourers and associates. In carrying on this institu- 
tion at Dundas Vale, he was aided by a band of 
teachers of noble spirit and of great ability; among 
whom it is not invidious to others to name Mr. Eobert 
Hislop, at that time its rector, and Mr. William 
Eraser, now the minister of the Free Middle Church 
in Paisley. No one could be more ready to acknow- 
ledge the assistance derived from men like these than 
was Mr. Stow." 



CHAPTER y. 
Amateurs and Helpers. 



The interest now so general in the cause of the educa- 
tion of the people, is a growth of the present century. 
It originated, doubtless, in the zealous labours of Eell 
and Lancaster, Wilderspin and Stow, and was greatly 
promoted by the societies which were formed in con- 
nection with them. But it was the condition of 
the people, and the dangers which seemed to threaten 
the very existence of the nation, that gave it an impe- 
tus, and made it grow to its present proportions. Lead- 
ing statesmen and eminent philanthropists came to 



AMATEUKS AND HELPERS. 263 

regard it as the sole means of securing the safety and 
promoting the prosperity of the nation. Educational 
societies were formed in many parts of the country for 
the purpose of gathering statistics, and of united action. 
Public meetings were held for discussion, and for agi- 
tating the question of educational reform. Committees 
of Parliament sat to gather information, and at length 
action was taken by the legislature. 

Foremost in this work was Brougham. In 1816 he 
obtained a Committee of the House of Commons to 
inquire into the state of education. Somewhat later 
he was one of those who established the first infants' 
school, and in 1824 he formed the first infants' school 
society. But his greatest work was the formation of 
the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. He 
convened the first meeting in 1826, Its first publi- 
cation was in 1827. It was incorporated in 1832. 
This Society did much indirectly to promote education. 
Amongst many invaluable publications, it issued the 
Journal of Education. The scope of this serial was 
to bring into an accessible form the best contribu- 
tions to education of ancient and modern writers, to 
make known the educational systems of other coun- 
tries, to bring into prominence all efforts that were 
made for elementary, industrial, and secondary edu- 
cation, and to publish articles by good writers on 
educational topics. In 1836, a selection of articles 
was published in two volumes, with the title of 
" The Schoolmaster." 

In 1836, some of the more prominent members 
formed with others the Central Society of Education. 
The object of this society was to take measures to 



264 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

place education on a scientific basis, to establish 
training schools for teachers, to make education com- 
pulsory, to throw its support upon the rates, and to 
have it under the direction of a permanent board 
and a minister of education, who should be a member 
of the Cabinet. It also proposed to supply informa- 
tion on the existing state of education, on the 
several modes of teaching the poorer classes, on the 
systems of education extant, and generally to dis- 
cover the means by which all classes may be best 
fitted in health, in mind, and in morals, to fill the 
stations they are destined to occupy in society. 

The formation of the society was the occasion for 
an outburst of bigotry and invective. It was de- 
nounced as secular, as intending to put out the 
Bible from schools, and as intending to prepare the 
way for the establishment of Popery. It did good 
service. One of its first works was to make inquiry 
into the state of education. It did this very thoroughly, 
but not without opening itself to the charge of de- 
siring to make out a case against the British and 
National schools, than to ascertain the real benefit 
conferred by them. They charge these schools with 
having nothing in them that deserves the name of 
education; their methods as having a tendency to 
crush the mental energies, and to extinguish all moral 
life ; and their public examinations as a gross deception. 
Its other work was to publish a series of volumes, in 
which educational topics were discussed ; one of these 
consisting of prize essays, being one of the most valu- 
able contributions to professional literature of recent 
times. The growth of education during the last forty 



THOMAS WYSE. 265 

years owes mucli to this movement, and we shall mark 
its character by some brief notices of its more promi- 
nent agents. 

Section I. — Thomas Wyse. 

Thomas Wyse took an active part in the establish- 
ment of the Irish system. He was the author of a 
book on Educational Reform, in which he sketched a 
system of national education. He had a large ac- 
quaintance with ancient and modern education, and he 
was the advocate of principles and practices far in ad- 
vance of the age he addressed. " Education should fit 
each citizen for the duties which his several relations 
enforce upon him, by giving to the physical, intellect- 
ual, and moral faculties the full perception of which 
they are susceptible. That such education may be 
effectual there must be on the part of the educator a 
knowledge of mind and body. In physical education 
it is conceded that a knowledge of physiology is essen- 
tial ; but it is equally true in that of mind. Take the 
very lowest point, the furnishing of the mind ; a mind 
taught at random without a knowledge of its capaci- 
ties and forces is a lumber-room, but a mind educated 
is a well-ordered storehouse. To think of working on 
the human mind without a knowledge of it seems an 
absurdity so glaring, that it would never have been main- 
tained in practice if the real object of school work 
had been education. The science of miud, at least such 
portions as bear on practice, is essential. Without it 
the schoolmaster may blunder into right, but at best 
he is but an empiric, and never sure that he is not 
wroui?." 



266 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Education must be moral, and in order to that it 
must be religious. First consider the relation of 
moral to intellectual education. These two cannot be 
separated. Those who would do so attempt impossibi- 
lities. Half of our being cannot be torn from the 
other half, they are so intertwisted. It is also difficult 
to say where one ends and the other begins. Senti- 
ment and reason are the two prime movers of the moral 
nature. The first takes precedence in early education. 
Sentiment is the foundation of all morality and reli- 
gion. It thus becomes possible to train very young 
children morally and religiously. The feelings which 
may be excited in a child towards the Author of all 
good, differ in no way but in their object from those 
with which a parent should be regarded. It is thus too 
that He is first made known to the child. But a later 
stage is reached when conviction is required, and judg- 
ment comes in as well as feeling. Otherwise the child 
grows into a mere creature of chance and impulse, 
vacillation, and incoherence. Thus it is evident tiiat 
true morality requires the presence of intellectual as 
well as of moral elements." 

Charged with secularism by those who opposed his 
system of unsectarian instruction, he is anxious that no 
mistake should exist as to the real nature of moral 
education. There can be no moral education without 
religion ; and no religion supplies the standard, the 
precept, and the motive power, but the Christian. 
This introduces the question, first mooted in the con- 
troversies of the time, whether the Bible should be 
the source of this instruction 1 Wyse is clear on the 
chief point. *' The Holy Scriptures alone, in their 



THOMAS WYSE. 267 

speaking and vivifying code, teaching by deed, and 
sealing by death, give that law of truth, of justice, 
and of love, which has been the thirst and hunger of 
the human heart in every vicissitude of its history. In 
all stages of life this ought to be the book of books. 
But everything depends on the manner in which it is 
taught. It is not enough to teach the Scriptures, we 
must remember whom we are to teach, and by what 
instruments we are to teach. We are to teacli children. 
AVe are to teach by the means God has put into our 
hands. These means are human intellects and human 
affections ; but though the same in both, they are not 
developed to the same extent in children as in men. 
Therefore there must be adaptation to the actual con- 
dition. A child materializes and localizes; a man 
spiritualizes and abstracts; hence the routes to the 
same end are different. The ideas of every one are 
limited by his experience, a child's being very con- 
tracted. Yet we can only build with the materials we 
have got. To comprehend new ideas we must employ 
the ideas we have. Further, a child's vocabulary is 
even more circumscribed than its ideas. Yet it is 
only through words that spiritual things can be con- 
veyed to its mind. Now these facts must govern 
the teaching of Scripture to young children. Go con- 
trary to them and there will be positive and enduring 
evil. Children form associations with marvellous ra- 
pidity in despite of their teachers and in despite of 
themselves. If they meet obscurity where there 
should be light, if pain where there should be plea- 
sure, the associations cling and the Bible remains 
a closed book, when free to choose for themselves. 



268 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Meet the difficulty by following the law of God 
and nature. Scripture must be taught, but so 
taught as to be understood. Such parts then as can 
be understood are to be given to children. This 
implies selection, and therefore exclusion. Selections 
first should be placed in their hands, differing according 
to their age and understanding ; but as education 
proceeds, the Sacred Volume itself may be intrusted to 
their study and inquiry. In the selections for such a 
course of Scripture reading two rules should be observed, 
they should be adapted to the capacity, and they should 
be accompanied by needful explanation." 

Turning to the cultivation of the intellect, Wyse 
lays done two principles. The first is that the mate- 
rials of intellectual education are the human faculties ; 
evidently meaning that the discipline of these is the 
object to be sought, rather than the storing of the 
mind with learning. Early education is important, 
for every motion of mind or body tends to the forma- 
tion of a habit, and of habits the man is formed. 
Hence the importance of a right culture of the senses. 
These are the great instruments of knowledge. If not 
cared for at school, when wanted they will be found 
rusty or blunted. Without culture all is haziness, 
with it vividness and freshness. The difference is 
that betwixt a waking state and a dream, between 
reality and unreality. Right culture of the senses 
tends to clearness of ideas, accuracy of language, and 
justice of reasoning. He is also of opinion that each 
sense has its organ benefited by its acquiring greater 
delicacy and sensibility. Education from the very 
first ought to be general. All the powers of a child 



THOMAS WYSE. 269 

are in action contemporaneously. We do not discover 
the action of the higher powers so readily because the 
child is working with ideas and not with language, 
but the results prove that the processes were there. 
Of course there is order. "We must begin with the 
beginning. We live before we think. The senses are 
the first objects. But when cultivating the mind 
through these, we must not act as if it was only 
recipient or perceptive. It is impossible thus to con- 
tract its operations. As growth proceeds it becomes 
still more necessary to keep in exercise all the faculties, 
or the product is only half a man. Proportion and 
symmetry are the two great rules in education, l^o 
single chord should be left untouched or unstrung. 
Sounded singly there is monotony, sounded without 
order it is discord ; harmony is the result of the 
scientific culture of all. 

His second principle is that the instruments of in- 
tellectual culture are right methods. There is no 
method adapted to all stages and to all subjects. That 
which is suitable at an early period may be pernicious 
at a later. Method should be eclectic. He instances 
Pestalozzi and Fellenberg. The former was dominated 
by an idea, and when in a region where it was inopera- 
tive he egregiously failed. The latter, with a fuller 
conception of a child's nature and of a child's needs, 
had methods adapted to all stages of development, and 
to the object in view. 

Much of his book is devoted by Wyse to the methods 
of teaching school subjects, and contains on these points 
many valuable hints. 



270 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Section II. — Horace Grant. 

Horace Grant was another amateur whose labours 
have aided educational progress. His friend Chad- 
wick, in a notice prefixed to a recent edition of his 
books, classes him with Comenius, Pestalozzi, and others 
who have devoted themselves zealously to the especial 
study of the minds of children, and to the best means 
of cultivating them. Having been obliged by failing 
health to resign the East India Company's service, he 
devoted himself to education. He found grievous 
defects in the construction of schoolbooks and in 
methods of teaching. The chief fault of the former 
was, that they were calculated to display the knowledge 
of the writers than to interest the children. The 
chief faults of the latter, that they imparted matters 
by rote, and were utterly unfitted to develop and 
discipline the mind. He framed lessons and wrote 
them out on this principle, that each lesson was by 
its own intrinsic interest to sustain the attention of 
the learner. He borrowed children for the purpose 
of his trials and observations, and he circulated in 
manuscripts the lessons he had tried amongst intelli- 
gent and practised teachers, and obtained the results 
of their experience. He embodied the results of his 
observations aud experiments in a series of volumes 
first published by the Society for the Diffusion of 
Useful Knowledge, and recently issued afresh by 
Bell and Daldy. They include exercises for the 
senses, two treatises on arithmetic, and others ou 
geography, drawing, and elementary geometry. 

Grant brought to his adopted work valuable qualifi- 



HORACE GRANT. 271 

cations, the most important of which was his know- 
ledge of mental science, and especially of mind as it 
develops itself in young children. He himself held 
this to be an essential thing for one who would success- 
fully educate. Mr. Chad wick gives the following ex- 
tracts from a letter : — " A gentleman would scarcely 
presume to break in a colt or a pointer puppy, without 
first ascertaining the precise object to be obtained, and 
studying the character, habits, and organization of the 
animal, and the fitting mode of acting upon it. Yet 
surely a common child is' as difficult to be understood 
as a pointer puppy." " You cannot act upon children 
unless you understand them, and you cannot under- 
stand them without studying them attentively, having 
first discarded all previous notions gathered from the 
cloister or the desk. It will not do for gentlemen to 
retire to their study, like German metaphysicians, and 
extract from thpir inmost consciousness all that is ne- 
cessary for understanding and instructing their juvenile 
fellow creatures. As teachers of children, it appears 
to me, that your masters have everything to learn ; 
that they have no suspicion of this, and that unless 
they will first condescend to go among children as 
learners and students, their zeal and industry as 
teachers will be of little avail." 

His study of children made him in favour of short 
lessons. *' There is a variety of temperament and a 
difference of capacity arising therefrom, which shows 
itself in the degree and duration of attention. Very 
young children cannot give attention longer than a few 
minutes ; the power increases with training and growth, 
but even with other children lessons requiring mental 



272 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

effort should rarely exceed half-an-hour." The re- 
medy is in change of work. For though it is a law of 
their nature that they cannot he engaged on one thing 
long, it is equally true that they cannot remain idle. 
" They make innumerable short essays in all directions, 
by which mind and body are trained. Keep them al- 
ways at one kind of bodily labour, and they become 
deformed and stunted, and attain not the proportions 
and powers of the perfect animal. Train one, or but a 
few of their faculties, and they are ever afterwards dwarfs 
in intellect, or at best ill-proportioned spirits. Train 
their moral faculties in the same injudicious manner, 
starve many, over excite a few, and you produce 
immoral or morally diseased beings." 

Children must be employed. A healthy child at 
liberty to do what he likes goes through great bodily 
and mental exercise. " There are innumerable objects 
observed, inquired into, and experimented on ; endless 
reasonings, imaginings, inventions ; and there are 
worlds of fancy into which his old materials are con- 
stantly being marshalled. Yet all this hard work is 
pleasure to the child, — it is play ; but such play makes 
men." " Overwork is most pernicious ; but one thing 
is worse : forcibly to restrain him from that active em- 
ployment which his constitution craves; thus imprison- 
ing mind and body. Children rarely suffer from over- 
work, but often from improper work, the smallest 
quantity of which is pernicious." Anything which 
strains the attention, as rote work of every kind, with- 
out employing the faculties', does mischief 

Not many but much is a good rule in teaching. 
Where many things are attempted, there must be 



HORACE GRANT. 273 

brevity, and consequently, poverty. "Half-a-dozen 
.^imple points investigated and discovered "by the pupil, 
Mvill be of more value than a book-full of geometry, 
to which he merely gives a cold assent. In the one 
case, the knowledge forms part of the mind; it is 
remembered, is ever present when wanted, and is 
ready to be connected with, and to aid, other know- 
ledge ; it assists in building up an intellect as well as 
furnishing it. In the common mode, however fre- 
quently a thing is gone over, it forms no part of the 
mind : it is joined with nothing useful or experi- 
mental ; it is kept at an out-station apart from our 
trains of thought, and it can have little influence on 
the intellect or character." 

The right starting-point is with the senses, and in 
all subjects the natural development of the mind sug- 
gests that the concrete shall precede the abstract, the 
near shall be taken before the remote, and the particu- 
lar shall be given before the general. It is also neces- 
sary that the illustrations and experiments shall be 
interesting, for the great purpose is that the child shall 
find pleasure in its work. His careful study of children 
led him to observe that certain subjects are more suit- 
able than others for the development and discipline 
he sought. Thus observing the vast amount of time 
and labour spent by every child in the first ten years 
of its life in investigating the forms and qualities of 
things, and noting the influence of the former in giving 
the child the power of analysis, of distinguishing things, 
and of forming clear ideas, he giv^es a prominent place 
to form in early culture. He also attaches great im- 
portance to arithmetic, when it is so taught as to be 
T 



274 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

a matter of investigation to the children, as well as of 
reasoning based on operations presented to his senses. 
His two works on arithmetic should be in the hands 
of every teacher ; they are invaluable contributions to 
right methods of instruction. 

The following remarks from the Saturday Review 
set forth distinctly the principles of Grant's books on 
arithmetic. " The main principles upon which instruc- 
tion in arithmetic to young minds is founded are 
simple and sensible. The first is that children should 
learn to realize the meaning of arithmetic by concrete 
symbols. They should not only know but see, that 
two and two make four. The number nine should not 
only be thought of as produced by the addition of a 
unit to eight, but should spontaneously call up a vision 
of nine spots arranged in various diagrams which show 
its identity with sets of five and four spots, or with three 
sets of three spots. The mere blank expression is thus 
translated into a sensible reality, and is much more 
easily dealt with by the childish understanding. And, 
secondly, the child should be made to understand the 
more difficult rules by a process resembling that which 
must have led to their first discovery. Instead of 
having a magical formula stamped upon his memory, 
the application of which will, for some mysterious 
reason, bring out the desired result, his infant powers 
should be gradually stimulated until the rule presents 
itself to him as the summary and complete expression 
of his crude anticipation. 

" The old method was the reverse of this. It gave 
the logical instead of the natural order. The abstract 
conceptions which had been slowly reached by the 



SHUTTLEWORTH. 275 

mature intellect were impressed upon the cliildish 
mind, and the rules founded upon them explained in 
the most abstract language. Instead of developing the 
principles latent in the childish mind, a complete and 
ready-made system was thrust in, and frequently 
remained as a mere set of rules obstinately refusing 
to assimilate with previous acquisitions. But it is 
true of the matter with which arithmetic deals, that a 
vivid realization through the senses of its first truths 
is the best mode of approaching its difficulties. This 
study, like all others, has really its base in outward 
fact, and it must, like all others, be attained through 
the medium of sensible experience." The result will 
come the sooner, if every operatiou is given as a problem 
to be solved, and not as an example to which a rule is 
to be applied ; and if the work given exemplifies in 
every new question a distinct principle or rule from 
that in the operation just completed. 

Section III. — SliuUleworth. 

Till within the last forty years primary education in 
England was left in tlie hands of individuals and 
societies. I'he prevailing destitution was however too 
widespread to be met by voluntary associations, and it 
consequently became necessary that the State should 
take some share in the education of the people. So 
early as 1807 Whitbread made an inefi'ectual attempt 
to move the House of Commons to take up this duty. 
Brougham, more fortunate, obtained the appointment 
of committees of inquiry. Many others were engaged 
in efforts to awaken and inform the public mind, 



276 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

througli the press and on the platform, until at length 
the duty of the State to air] in the education of the 
people was owned in 1833 hy parliamentary grants dis- 
tributed by the Treasury. The obligation having been 
once admitted the necessity of further aid was soon 
apparent. In 1888 evidence was laid before a Par- 
liamentary Committee that was quite appalling, and 
especially the statement by prison authorities : — " That 
the leading characteristic of the vast majority of those 
unhappy beings who came under their charge was a 
heathenish ignorance of the simplest principles of mo- 
rality and religion." The conscience of the best part of 
the nation was grieved that such a vast amount of misery 
should arise from its own neglect. It found expression 
in the increase of the Parliamentary grant, and in the 
appointment on the 10th April, 1839, by an Order of 
Council of a Committee of the Privy Council to ad- 
minister it. Of this Committee Sir J. P. K. Shuttle- 
worth was the first secretary. Under his auspices were 
inaugurated a number of measures that have done more 
to place education on a satisfactory footing than all 
previous measures. Though it is perfectly true here as 
in physical science, that the labour of the present worker 
would have been impossible had it not been preceded 
and prepared for by those who have gone before. 
Amongst the measures of importance set on foot soon 
after his accession to office were the appointment of 
inspectors of schools, grants towards the erection and 
fittings of school buildings, provision for the training 
of teachers, and aid towards the maintenance of schools, 
by payments of the stipends of pnpil-teachers, by 
gratuities to their teachers for instructing them, and by 



SHUTTLEWORTH. 277 

certificates to teachers, with a money value, the amount 
being determined by the grade of the certificate, and 
made dependent on the report of the inspector. Sub- 
sequently, after Shuttleworth had retired from the 
secretaryship, the modes of aid and the regulations 
respecting school were so frequently changed, that 
teachers were in a state of constant alarm, not knowing 
what a " Minute " might bring forth. 

Amongst the services rendered by Shuttleworth was 
the drawing up of instructions on method in the form 
of minutes. His first minute describes a form of 
school organization which he introduced into the 
practising school at Battersea. It was an attempt to 
combine the advantages of Stow's system and that of 
monitorial schools. Four groups of paralled desks 
were so arranged that two contiguous classes could be 
formed into a division for a collective lesson by the 
master, while the other classes were worked by pupil- 
teachers. He called this the mixed mode, but it came 
to be better known as the Battersea Method. Other 
minutes dealt with methods of teaching. A tour 
through Europe, to acquaint himself with principles 
and methods of teaching, had imbued him thoroughly 
with a preference for synthetic methods. He bases 
his preference on what he supposed was nature's mode 
of educating the child. " During infancy the child has 
to become acquainted with the external world ; his 
senses are in incessant activity ; the sense of sight has 
to be placed in harmony with the sense of touch and 
of muscular movement; the distance, form, weight, 
and other qualities of objects have to be determined ; 
the child is making continual discoveries ; it constantly 



278 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

presses upon the region of the unknown. This process 
is chiefly synthetical. It is by the acquisition of new- 
facts, and their combination with those already known, 
that the child gradually acquires knowledge, and cor- 
rects the errors into which he has fallen. In the ac- 
quisition of language he is greatly aided by his faculty 
of imitation. In the use of this faculty he proceeds 
in two separate directions. In the imitation of sounds 
he first tries those which are shortest and simplest, and 
gradually acquires the more complex. A similar law 
determines his progress in all that relates to the struc- 
ture of sentences. He acquires the names of objects 
with which he is familiar, and first of those which in- 
terest his affections. Then he learns to name the qua- 
lities of those objects. Their motions, actions, and 
influence on other bodies follow ; and in these and 
every other part of his acquirements the simple pre- 
cedes the complex. By this constructive process all his 
early acquirements are made." Now it is obvious in 
these cases the infant mind had gone through a process 
of analysis before entering on the constructive stage, 
and every practical teacher knows that the success of 
educational efforts depends on the proper combination 
of both analytic and synthetic methods. 

The application of a synthetic method to reading he 
endeavoured to secure, by obtaining the services of two 
foreigners, one to analyse the English language into its 
elementary sounds, the other to arrange in a couple of 
books the characteristic words of the language, in a 
series, which would admit of the Phonic Method. 
This compliment to Englishmen was made with full 
knowledge of the fact that the Phonic Method was 



SHUTTLEWOETH. 279 

first applied by Edgeworth. In favour of the Phonic 
Method he observes, " It recognises in the child a 
being whose reasoning powers are immature, yet a ra- 
tional creature, whose memory maybe most successfully 
cultivated when employed in subordination to the rea- 
soning faculty. It depends to a large extent for its 
success on the truth that it is more difficult to remem- 
ber contradictory facts (or those which seem so) than 
classes of consistent facts which express a rule or law 
satisfactory to the reason. In the former case, each 
fact has to be separately remembered, and the memory 
is therefore vexed with numerous independent efforts. 
In the latter, the pupil remembers classes of facts 
associated by some law more readily than he remembers 
the individual facts when presented to his mind with- 
out any attempt at arrangement. In the former case, 
the facts appear to be not merely separate, but contra- 
dictory ; and in proportion as they are irreconcilable 
with any effort of the reason will they be difficult to 
remember. On the contrary, to show to a rational 
creature the mutual relations and dependences of facts 
presented to its intelligence, is to afford the greatest 
assistance to the memory, by enabling it to associate 
those facts in consistent groups, under comparatively a 
small number of laws. For a child to commit to me- 
mory that which it cannot understand is a difficult and 
by no means salutary exercise of the intelligence ; but 
to conduct the instruction of a child, not only without 
any attempt to cultivate its understanding, but to re- 
quire it to charge its memory with facts which, be- 
cause contradictory, must be repulsive to its reasoning 
powers, is worse than useless. By such means a child 



280 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

at an early period separates all ideas of pleasure from 
instruction. The tyranny of schools commences when 
any unreasonable effort is required. In this way, like- 
wise, is repressed that earnestness which characterizes 
the early efforts of childhood. Its generous spirit can 
only be cherished by leading it from one truth to 
another, and not from one contradiction to another. It 
is hurtful to the moral sense to commence the instruc- 
tion of children by requiring them to commit to me- 
mory what they do not understand, or what is contra- 
dictory, and therefore revolting to their understandings. 
The moral sense can only be successfully cultivated by 
inspiring the child in every process of education with 
a love of truth. 

" The first step to this result is to satisfy the intelli- 
gence on every point which can be rendered clear. 
The means to this end are the arrangement of the facts 
presented to the mind of the child in such order that 
each new truth may naturally succeed, and be sup- 
ported by those which have preceded it, so that the 
child may require neither any great effort of the intel- 
ligence to comprehend, or believe, or remember, that 
which it is the object of the master to teach." 

Now all this is excellent, but it is irrelevant. It 
has force against the method of teaching to read by 
teaching to spell with the names of the letters, but it 
does not support the phonic method. It is rather true 
of a synthetic arrangement of reading and other 
lessons than of the method to be used in each lesson. 
Here he is decidedly wrong in maintaining that analytic 
methods should be reserved till a very late stage in 
the child's progress ; and only synthetic ones employed 



SHUTTLEWORTH. 281 

in the earlier, for following the rule he himself lays 
down, of following nature, every teacher must employ 
both analytic and synthetic methods. 

" In observiDg the process which nature pursues in 
developing the intelligence, we see the senses of the 
infant first in activity ; they are employed in collecting 
facts ; the mind then gradually puts forth its power, 
it compares, combines, and at length analyzes the facts 
presented to it. Thus the child raises his attention 
above material objects. But whatever may be the 
differences which mark these successive periods of 
intellectual progress, the method of education wliich 
suits them is always the same. From the most 
elementary knowledge to the highest speculations one 
method is universally applicable. This consists, first, 
in carefully examining the constituent parts of any 
object before us, ^^ e., in analyzing it; secondly, in 
classifying and separately considering these component 
parts. This is the work of the teacher in elementary 
schools; thirdly, in reconstructing the object which 
has thus been decomposed by the analysis of the 
educator, i. e., in operating by synthesis. This is the 
work of the pupil, by which he is prepared for the 
more difficult work of analysis. When his mental 
powers are exercised in this way the attention is 
actively engaged." Holding these opinions he had 
prepared besides reading-books, manuals, and tablets 
for the promotion of writing and vocal music, the 
former on the method of Mulhauser, the latter by 
Hullah. 

Other services were rendered by Shuttleworth to the 
cause of elementary education. He was the founder of 



282 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Battersea Training College, and this institution retained 
for many years the impress of his mind. That the 
system he tried to establish, taken from Switzerland, 
was ultimately abandoned, arose from its being not 
suited to English habits and circumstances. His able 
coadjutors at Battersea were Tate and Maclecd, men to 
whom English education is so much indebted. To 
Shuttlew^orth was due the system of school inspection, 
for which he drew out an elaborate scheme, a scheme 
that has not been improved by the departures there- 
from. 

Section IV. — Inspectors, 

The earlier reports of Her Majesty's Inspectors of 
schools contained many valuable contributions to 
common school education. It was the practice to 
scatter these reports broadcast over the land. Many 
a teacher labouring in a remote district found himself 
encouraged and stimulated by what he found in them. 
Many a teacher had his mind first awakened to the 
importance of his work, and himself set on the right 
track, by the earnest spirit which breathed through the 
writings of Moseley, Fletcher, and others. To these 
early volumes, coming into his hands just as he was 
beginning his work, many a young teacher was indebted 
for many valuable hints, and for many important prin- 
ciples. Here he first learned the real nature of his 
work, and the spirit in which it should be conducted ; 
and from them he obtained invaluable plans for its 
accomplishment. It was a pity that the lotv estimate 
of the work of the school, and the false parsimony 
which attended it, ushered in by the Eevised Code, led 



INSPECTORS. 283 

to alterations in the reports themselves, and to the 
stoppage of their gratuitous circulation. 

The reports of Professor Moseley cover a period of 
eleven years, and touch, amongst many other topics, 
some of the most important in elementary instruction. 
On religious instruction he observes, " I see the 
desire to implant principles of sound doctrine, and to 
furnish the memory with Scriptural truths, — all, in 
short, effected that may he learned as a lesson and en- 
forced as a task, — but little, I fear, that appeals to those 
sensibilities which are the springs of action in child- 
hood, and the elements out of which the Christian 
character collects itself in youth and manhood. The 
way to the hearts of children is easy to those who seek 
it ; and I know not why the schoolmaster, who can 
call to his aid that power which is given him over 
the affections by the sympathy of numbers, should 
pass it by in the matter of their religious teaching, 
seeking rather to store their memories with the language 
of Scripture hereafter to be applied — if, indeed, 
religion ever becomes to them a matter of personal ap- 
plication, — or exercise their judgment with questions of 
controverted doctrine, in anticipation of a period when 
they may be called upon to defend it." " Religious truth 
should be presented to children so as to awaken the 
sensibilities and arouse the conscience, for they act not 
from what they know, but from what they feel. Their 
characters are forming themselves not upon principles, 
but upon feelings, reiterated until they become habits 
of feeling and laws of action. Eeligion is best pre- 
sented to the mind of a child under the form of a 
principle of action. Appeals of Scriptural truth find 



284 SYSTEMS OF EDUCA.TION. 

their way most readily to the heart when supported by 
admonitions of conscience." " "We are too much accus- 
tomed to confound our notion of a religious education 
with that of religious instruction, and not to consider 
that a place should he sought for religion in the 
heart and affections of children, as well as in their 
memories and understanding." " It is often difficult to 
know how religious principles are to be applied under 
certain practical conditions, and this stands in the way 
of the application of them. As, then, in secular, so in 
religious education, the science of application is of 
great importance. Our elementary schools should in 
this respect be schools of application, — of application 
by precept and by example ; application so simple as 
to include the experiences of the child, but based upon 
principles which involve the destinies, for time and 
for eternity, of the man. The example of a school life 
controlled by Christian principles — of the mind that 
was in Christ, is a result which the faithful teacher 
will not fail to pray for, and which by God's blessing he 
may hope in some measure to attain to." 

On discipline and moral training the following 
remarks are especially valuable : — " I have often been 
struck, in intercourse with teachers, with what appeared 
to me a want of faith in education. They have seemed 
to me not to have that confidence in the resources 
of it which, on the authority of Scripture and of 
reason, we are justified in having. We know that if 
we could but ' train up children in the way they should 
go, when they are old they would not depart from it ; ' 
and every day's experience tells us that men and women 
are very much what they were trained up to be aa 



INSPECTOES. 285 

cHldren. Yet very little attention is given to the 
training of children in schools, I helieve the root of 
this lies in a want of faith in the power of the school 
to do anything for the training of the child, but only 
for its teaching. Yet the child is for six hours a day 
in the presence of the teacher, looking up to him for 
everything, at that period of its life when it is most 
open to the influence of example, when habits of 
thought for good or for evil are most readily formed, 
and when the heart and affections lie near the surface. 
It is, too, a great resource to the teacher to minister 
to the understanding of the child its daily food, to 
have the first tottering steps of its mind stayed upon 
his, to have the will of the child absorbed into his ; 
and, if he be a skilful teacher, to command the public 
opinion of his school ; and all this at that age when 
thus to be fed with the first elements of knowledge, 
thus to be supported in the first uncertain steps of the 
understanding, thus to yield to authority, is natural." 
The schoolmaster possesses vast power for training the 
children of his school, and he is always for good or 
evil unconsciously exercising it. " As I go from school 
to school I perceive in each a distinctive character, 
which is that of the master ; I look at the school and 
at the man, and there is no mistaking the resemblance. 
His idiosyncrasy has passed upon it. I seem to see 
him reflected in the children as in so many fragments 
of a broken mirror. What importance this gives to 
the character of the teacher, and to his religious and 
moral training ! It is not one of the least difficulties 
of his work that the children in whose presence he 
lives, and who will form themselves on his model, have 



286 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

a singular instinct in comprehending their teachers, 
piercing them with their little eyes through and 
through." 

" Discipline in too many schools is maintained by 
the aid of corporal punishment. In some its infliction 
is limited to offences partaking of the nature of moral 
delinquency. In the great majority the punishment is 
awarded irrespectively of the nature of the offence." 

He gives it as his opinion that the eflficiency of a 
school, judged either as a place of moral training or of 
secular instruction, is in inverse proportion to the 
amount of corporal punishment inflicted in it; and 
for this obvious reason^ that the master who dispenses 
with corporal punishment falls back upon those other 
resources of discipline which are of a moral character 
and a more abiding influence. He remarks, too, on 
the extent to which the habit of inflicting corporal 
punishment may grow upon the master, and of the 
callous endurance of it by children, as showing how 
pernicious it is. The school is ill-managed in which, 
the moving principle is terror of the rod. Its un- 
healthy moral condition may be disguised from the 
master, but it is palpable to others. The very faces of the 
children show it. Sentiments of fear being habitual, 
a sullen apathy, or the sinister expression of a silent 
but resolute opposition, is the prevailing condition. 

He attributes the prevalence of this mode of punish- 
ment either to want of temper or to ignorance of his 
profession on the part of the master. "The rod or 
the cane is an obvious and a simple expedient for 
getting the children's lessons learned, to which a 
teacher unskilled in the higher resources of his art 



INSPECTORS. 287 

invariably resorts, with the more energy as he is the 
more zealous for their welfare, and the more ignorant 
of the best means of promoting it. The demoralizing 
influence of a course of discipline like this outweighs 
any amount of technical knowledge of which it may be 
the price." "We little appreciate the power in 
education of patient, enduring, abiding love. Could 
we but bring to bear upou the work of the teacher 
the whole power that there is in love — never to be 
discouraged, wearied, or repulsed, — there is per- 
haps no obduracy of the heart of a child that 
would resist it, and no evil that it would not reach 
and purify. If in a school the spirit of love could 
remain unbroken from day to day and from year to 
year, that would constitute the perfection of its dis- 
cipline. . . Men readily understand the discipline 
of punishment to secure obedience, — or of reserve ; 
these are easy expedients, in the power of a bad 
teacher as entirely as a good one ; but they do not so 
easily comprehend the discipline of love. Its fruits 
are not seen at once. It demands time, patience, 
perseverance, and is an expedient only within the 
power of a good teacher." 

On the equipment of the teacher, the necessity of 
professional training, and the principles that should 
guide teaching, there are many remarks distributed 
through the reports. A schoolmaster is required to 
be meet not only for learning, but for dexterity in 
teaching. He must indeed not only have acquired the 
knowledge which he has to communicate, but be ac- 
quainted with the best methods of communicating it, 
and thoroughly practised in the use of those methods. 



288 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

It is in the experience of every teacher, that to 
embrace a truth one's self, and to be able to present 
it under the simplest form to another, are essentially 
different things. It is necessary that teaching as an 
art should be made the subject of study. Mere 
practice of this art does not give proficiency. It has 
principles and rules, which mustbe the subjects of 
rational investigation. There must be the habitual 
fctudy of the best methods, and of the principles on 
■which they are based. It is to be borne in mind that 
the work of the elementary schoolmaster is one of no 
ordinary difficulty. That the children who come to 
him have never been taught to think, have no know- 
ledge which may form the subject of thought, and are 
without the means of acquiring that knowledge. He 
has to act on untutored minds, to give them the arts 
of learning, to teach them to think and understand, 
and to store their minds with material for thought. 
This is impossible to those who are not acquainted 
with, teaching as a science as well as practised in it as 
an art. 

" It is the triumph of the art of the teacher to 
break down the separation interposed between his own 
and the uneducated mind. From his own ample stores 
to select those adapted to form the first elements of 
the knowledge of a child, and so to present them as 
best to lead the child to reason upon them and to 
understand them. The principal object of a lesson 
has been lost in i?espect to any child on whose mind 
no impression remains when the lesson is over; and 
an obstacle has been interposed to its further progress 
if its reasoning powers have not been exercised, and its 



INSPECTORS, 289 

inceHieence gathered strength from it. The child's 
mind has been unjustly tasked, and its attention, 
claimed where it was not due, has been simulated. 
Thus the efforts of the teacher, which ought to ac- 
custom it to apply its thoughts and to reflect on what 
it has learned, result in giving it the habit of a feigned 
attention and a wandering mind. But of all the evils 
iL'flicted on a child who is compelled to listen to a 
lesson which it does not comprehend, the greatest 
probably is that which is involved in the sacrifice made 
of its faith in the teacher. ' The child comes into the 
world,' says Pere Girard, ' not only with faculties to 
learn from others what he is ignorant of, but with a 
happy tendency to believe them. He is told and he 
believes. It is thus that the knowledge of others 
becomes his. Take away faith from the heart of a 
child, and how can it learn ? ' When day by day the 
child is compelled to sit a patient listener to instruc- 
tions to which it attaches no intelligible meaning, 
how entirely is this faith sacrificed ! " " The deception 
is carried on to positive falsehood when, in the exa- 
mination which follows the lesson, the child is made 
to profess himself to have understood what he did not 
understand." " The failure of a schoolmaster as a 
teacher must impair his influence in whatever else, 
besides teaching, belongs to his office, a proposition 
the converse of which is also true. Such a teacher is 
likely to claim of the children that they should 
understand what he supposes himself to have ex- 
plained to them, but really has not ; and he is likely 
*n be angry with them if they have not understood it. 
By this injustice he raises up an antagonism in the 



290 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Dpmds of tlie children, the more demoralizing that it 
nmst be disguised ; or if the child remains un- 
ocnscious that the failure is on the side of the master, 
and sets it down to his own incapacity to understand 
what the master has tried to teach him, the injury to 
the child is none the less by reason of the discourage- 
ment which he has experienced, and the distrust 
which, without foundation, has been created in his 
mind, of his power to reason and understand." 

" Oral instruction is especially an agency by which an 
uniustructed child may be taught to think and reason ; 
whilst it is the most direct, it is probably the most 
effectual means of imparting to it that definite amount 
of knowledge which the master may happen himself to 
possess. By a most useful reaction it becomes to him 
moreover a continual process of self -instruction, exer- 
cising his faculties of reasoning, and his powers of 
exposition, prompting him to study the minds of his 
scholars, and encouraging him to enlarge the boundaries 
of his knowledge. With this form of instruction it is, 
however, raost important that the use of books should 
be combined. The child must be made a student. It 
is not enough that a certain amount of knowledge be 
imparted to it ; if a process of self- instruction be not 
induced in the process of oral instruction a child is 
never an independent agent ; he neither seeks know- 
ledge for himself, nor unaided encounters any of the 
difficulties opposed to its acquisition. His mind leans 
continually on the mind of his teacher ; and, unaccus- 
tomed to support itself, if some other state be not made 
to alternate with this, it goes with difficulty alone. It 
IS in the well-balanced union of the two methods of 



INSPECTORS. 291 

oral instruction by the master, and self-instruction by 
the child, that the secret of elementary education 
appears to consist," 

In oral lessons there is too often a tendency to travel 
out of the sphere of the intelligence of the children, 
and to bring before them subjects in forms unsuited 
to their years, and foreign to their interest. There is 
also a want of vivacity and energy in examination. The 
vagrant thoughts of the children constitute the chief 
obstacle a master has to contend with in teaching them. 
This unsettled state of the mind in children, the skilful 
master, knowing it to be proper to their years, rather 
seeks to turn to his use than to contend with. To keep 
alive the interest of the children in the lesson he varies 
it by frequent examinations ; his questions follow in 
rapid succession ; they tend to a drawing out of the 
reason rather than the memory, and he shifts continually 
the point of view in which his subject is presented, 
giving prominence to those features of it by which it 
is related to things familiar to the children themselves. 
All that he does is founded on a careful study of the 
characteristics of childhood, and a just appreciation of 
them. He has carefully observed the ways of children, 
and the efforts they make to reflect, reason, and under- 
stand. Of the knowledge he has thus acquired he 
avails himself to command their attention ; and when 
this fails he calls the sympathy of numbers to his aid, or 
throws in the element of emulation. "Warming with his 
task, the interest he feels passes to the children, and the 
whole group glows with the desire to know. This condi- 
tion of mind is not transient, the lesson is repeated 
daily, and it becomes therefore in some degree habitual. 



292 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

Of defects in oral lessons he observes, " Had the 
teacher known more of the subject-matter of his 
lesson, it has been my constant observation that he 
would have been able to select from it things better 
adapted to the instruction of children, and to place 
them in a simpler point of view. That he may be able 
to present his subject to the minds of the children in 
its most elementary forms, he himself must have gone 
to the root of it ; and that he may exhaust it of all 
that it is capable of yielding for the child's instruction, 
he must have compassed the whole of it," " The car- 
dinal defect of oral lesson in elementary schools is an 
inadequate knowledge on the part of the teacher of 
that which he is teaching. If his knowledge of it had 
covered a larger surface he would have selected matter 
better adapted to the instruction of the children. If 
he had comprehended it more fully he would have 
made it plainer to them. If he had been more familiar 
with it, he liad spoken more to the point. I will en- 
deavour to illustrate this by an example. A teacher 
proposing to give an oral lesson on coal, for instance, 
holds a piece of it up before his class, and having 
secured their attention, he probably asks them to which 
kingdom it belongs, animal, vegetable, or mineral, — a 
question in no case of much importance, and to be 
answered, in the case of coal, doubtfully. Having, 
however, extracted that answer which he intended to 
get from the children, he induces them by many ingeni- 
ous devices, much circumlocution, and an extravagant 
expenditure of the time of the school, to say that it is 
a solid, that it is heavy, that it is opaque, that it is 
back, that it is friable, and that it is combustible. In 



INSPECTORS. 293 

such a lesson the teacher affords evidence of no other 
knowledge of the particular thing which is the subject 
of it than the children might be supposed to possess 
before the lesson began. He gives it easily, because 
the form is the same for every lesson ; the blanks having 
only to be differently filled up every time it is repeated. 
All that it is adapted for is to teach them the meanings 
of some unusual words, words useless to them because 
they apply to abstract ideas, and which, as the type of 
all sucli lessons is the same, he has probably often taught 
them before. 

" He has shown some knowledge of words, but none 
ofthings. Of the particular thing called coal as distin- 
guished from any other thing he knows nothing more 
than the child, but only of certain properties common 
to it and almost everything else, and of certain words, 
useless to poor children, which describe those properties. 
Coal is a common thing to the child, one with which 
its daily observation is famiKar, intimately connected 
with uses of its life — a substance about which it might 
be taught many things which would probably be of 
great use to it in after life, things which it would not 
be likely ever to know unless it were so taught them. 
This tendency, from ignorance of things, to teach 
children words only, runs in a notable manner through 
almost all of the lessons on physical science which I 
have listened to." 

Other defects are noted. ** An earnest teacher, by 
an excess of earnestness, sometimes becomes minute and 
interfering, and unconsciously he is unjust, not giving 
the children credit for being right in their answers when 
they are right, compelling them to shape such answers 



294 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

precisely in the words which he himself would use, — 
words not so good, perhaps, as the child's, because not 
so simple. This tendency is a cardinal defect in teach- 
ing, and I believe its influence to be extremely demoral- 
izing." "An examiner ought not to require the answer 
in a tone of command, authoritatively, but simply as an 
interrogation, not leading but following the train of 
thought of the person examined, and, as it follows, 
guiding it. Some teachers seem to think that all that 
is required for a good examination is to question rapidly, 
unhesitatingly. The teacher should specially be upon 
his guard against an abrupt and over-confident manner 
in teaching, and a tendency to contradict the children 
for no other assignable cause than self-assertion when 
they have answered rightly. His mind should be en- 
tirely upon the children, and away from himself." 

The plan first suggested by Professor Moseley, of 
organizing a common elementary school in three divi- 
sions, corresponding to the threefold work of such 
school, bore excellent fruit. The principles which he 
lays down are admirable. " To educate children, the 
action of an enlightened teacher upon them is required, 
with an individual application to each individual 
mind. There must be the separate contact of the mind 
of the master with the mind of the child ; the separate 
study of it; the separate ministering to its wants, 
checking its waywardness, propping up and guiding 
and encouraging its first efforts, building it up and 
establishing it. The whole time allowed out of the 
life of a poor child for its school days is all too short. 
Nothing can be done unless the most powerful of the 
resources of the schoolmaster be brought to bear upon 



INSPECTOKS. 295 

every moment of it. If his work be not taken in 
hand forthwith, not only will he have lost the most 
favourable season for it, but the whole opportunity. I 
claim, therefore, as a privilege of the child, and as a 
paramount duty of the master, that his own individual 
culture of the chHd's mind, his own direct and per- 
sonal labour upon it, should begin from the moment 
the chHd first enters the school, and never be inter- 
rupted until he leaves it. That the child should not, 
for instance, be tossed about, as it passes through the 
school, from hand to hand, from teacher to teacher, 
beginning at that of the lowest merit, until, if it ever 
reach the first or second, it comes at length under the 
master mind of the school, which should have operated 
upon it throughout. It is n. t by a process thus 
broken and disjointed that anything great or perma- 
nent will be realized. Many elements of the character 
of the child, which the master would easily have 
read in the lowest class of the school, will be dis- 
guised from him if he first takes it up in the highest ; 
many evils, which he might have corrected then, will 
now have become incorrigible : much that he might 
have built up by a gradual process, growing with the 
child's growth and strengthening with its strength, 
will be impracticable to any less sustained and c'on- 
tinuous effort." 

Accordingly he recommends that each school shall 
be formed into three groups, and that each group shall 
pass in turn into a room for oral instruction by the 
master ; the other groups, being one at preparatory 
work in classes and drafts, the other at silent exercises 
in desks. The system thus recommended largely 



296 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

modified the organization of schools. Provision was 
more extensively made than heretofore for oral teaching 
by the master, but the system as a whole never made its 
WdVf and for obvious reasons. It exacted more from 
the master than could be given long with safety to his 
health, and it made no provision for that moral over- 
sight which at least is of as much importance as intel- 
lectual culture. The tripartite organization was sub- 
sequently adapted by Fletcher to the Eorough Eoad 
Practising Schools, and in a modified form was exten- 
sively adopted in other schools. 

This form of organization, modified to meet special 
circumstances, will probably continue to be employed 
in village schools. But the Act of 1870, in the 
powers with which it has invested school boards, has 
made possible an organization of schools which would 
go far to solve the problem how to educate to the best 
advantage the children of our urban population. This 
would be best done by a system of grade schools, but 
materially difi'ering from those established by Stow. 
In his system each school was distinct under its own 
responsible master, but all the schools in the group 
were under one roof, with ahead master, who was not only 
responsible for his own school, but for unity of system in 
all. In lieu of this plan, it would be better to place a 
group of grade schools in a district of given area, each 
school easily accessible from all parts of it. Each 
school in the group, occupying its own separate and 
distinct building, should have its own curriculum, 
corresponding to what now constitutes a standard of 
the Education Department. This should form the 
minimum of attainment in its own school, and the 



INSPECTOES. 297 

ability to do it should he the test for admission into 
the school of the next higher grade. Thus a system of 
schools would be established, each preparatory to the 
next in advance ; each school would be under a head 
master, who would be absolutely responsible for its 
progress within the defined limits, but who would not 
be restricted to them, during the time the scholars 
were under his charge. Thus, too, there would be a 
system of schools which would begin at the very 
lowest point of elementary attainment, and proceed by 
easy gradation to the highest point of culture. 

Seymour Tremenheere was one of the earlier in- 
spectors of schools. The faithfulness of his reports in 
pointing out defects in schools, and especially those 
found in British schools, ultimately led to his " pro- 
motion '* from the inspection of schools to the inspection 
of mines. Yet he could appreciate and praise good work. 
" In the boys' school at the village of lUogan the 
Scriptural and catechetical lessons are made to consist 
of much more than mere reading and repetition. The 
due exercise of the understanding seems to be kept 
very constantly in view. Maps and a few books illus- 
trative of Scripture are used to assist the apprehension, 
and to awaken greater interest by giving clearer per- 
ceptions. Lessons in geography, in the elements of 
astronomy, on physiology, on metals and minerals, 
flowers, and other subjects of natural history, tested 
afterwards, either catechetically or by writing, enlarge 
the circle of ideas and arouse curiosity. Maps are 
drawn on the black-board from memory, also on paper. 
The black-board is used for drawing and illustrating 
geometrical figures and simple objects of natural 



298 SYSTEMS OF EDUCA.TION. 

history or of art. G-rammar is attended to. The 
arithmetic frame is used for beginners. Some few 
boys had gone through Bonnycastle's " Mensuration ; " 
others had begun simple equations and " Euclid." 
Xone were above thirteen years of age." 

In the same report of 1840 he thus incidentally 
speaks of oral collective lessons : — *' The daily oral 
lesson, as given in the most improved day schools? 
tested by questions, or by writing its substance, could 
not fail of its usual result in awakening intelligence 
and a taste for knowledge. The tendency to fall into 
mere dogmatical teaching, outrunning in language and 
subject the intelligence of the children, is natural to 
those who have not prepared themselves, by previous 
consideration of each proposed oral lesson, for the diffi- 
cult and important art of communicating it. The 
power of mastering any continuous subject, of reducing 
it to clear, logical order, and of presenting it to the 
minds of young children in simple terms, in regular 
gradation from its first steps or simplest element, so as 
to lead the learner along a clear yet almost insensible 
path of progression, is far from being of easy acquire- 
ment, and yet is amongst the first principles of sound 
teaching. The skill also by which every answer and 
every incident is turned to account by an adroit 
master, for moral or mental discipline, cannot be 
crained without attention and cultivation." 

o 

The oral lesson needs not only careful preparation, 
and a just appreciation of the several devices to be 
employed to secure attention and work, but a proper 
division of the children, " A school of 100 " would 
be divided for this purpose into three large groups, 



INSPECTOES. 299 

each of wliicli would receive in turn its lesson from 
the master. Such a lesson is thus described by M. de 
Gerando, — "In this lesson the teacher instructs and 
directs a certain number of children together, he 
addresses to all the same language, the same demon- 
strations j all execute at once the same things and act 
in union. He has his eye on all, and all observe and 
hear him. There is therefore more simplicity and more 
rapidity in his operations ; the strength and time of 
the instructor are distributed with more economy; 
imitation and sympathy animate and sustain the 
children in that common progress wJiich they are 
making together ; the harmony of their labour keeps 
up a natural discipline. 

" It is of the essence of this mode of arrangement 
and teaching that the children should be divided into 
large groups, each as nearly as possible equal in age, 
capacity, and progress. But even under the most 
careful management this method has its defects, * as it 
cannot always happen, when the group is numerous, 
that all the children should really be of the same degree 
of capacity and advancement. The weaker therefore 
remain behind, or the more able are obliged to stop and 
wait for their comrades.' The mode of simultaneous 
answering is not an essential part of the simultaneous 
method of teaching. It is a very questionable practice, 
as affording a considerable opening for deception. The 
first words of the answer of the quickest often suggest 
the whole, is caught with rapidity by the rest, and 
passes as theirs. A better mode is to desire all who 
can answer to hold up their hands, and to take a cer- 
tain number before deciding which is right." 



300 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

On the function of the school to attend to the edu- 
cation of the whole child he has the following observa- 
tions : — " The name of Pestalozzi is now so commonly 
and so exclusively associated with one of the valuable 
principles on which he insisted — that of making it a 
primary object of education to draw out and strengthen 
all the faculties, the physical as well as the intellectual 
and moral, — that it appears to be overlooked that in 
enforcing this he was only reviving and giving a more 
extensive application to what had been the enlightened 
practice of former times, and the principle of all the 
most philosophical writers on the subject of education 
down to his own day." The public and private educa- 
tion of Athens and Rome was eminently one designed 
to develop all the faculties, — in the language of Milton, 
"to fit a man to perform justly, skilfully, and mag- 
nanimously, all the offices, both private and public, of 
peace and of war." Fenelon was of opinion that it was 
of the first consequence "that this should be well 
heeded." Milton and Locke are of the same mind. 
Dugald Stewart thus defines the essential objects of 
education: — "They are, first, to cultivate all the 
various principles of our nature, both speculative and 
active, in such a manner as to bring them to the great- 
est perfection of which they are susceptible ; and, 
secondly, by watching over the impressions and asso- 
ciations which the mind receives in early life, to secure 
it against the influence of prevailing errors, and, as far 
as possible, to engage its prepossessions on the side of 
truth." 

That the teacher may rightly fulfil his duty in de- 
veloping and improving the faculties, and in calling 



INSPECTOKS. 301 

forth and regulating the affections of those committed 
to his charge, it is essential that he should have some 
acquaintance with the principles of the human mind. 
In general, his utmost aim at present, corresponding 
with the extent of his capacity, is to lead the intellect 
through some of the lower processes of elementary 
teaching. Even this branch of duty opens to him a 
field of usefulness on which he is seldom prepared to 
enter. Stewart says, " To instruct youth in the 
languages and in the sciences is, comparatively, of 
little importance if we are inattentive to the habits 
they acquire, and are not careful in giving to their 
different faculties, and all their different principles of 
action, a proper degree of employment. Abstracting 
entirely from the culture of their moral powers, how 
extensive and difficult is the business of conduct- 
ing their intellectual improvement ! To watch over 
the associations which they form in their tender years ; 
to give them early habits of mental activity ; to rouse 
their curiosity, and to direct it to proper objects ; to 
exercise their ingenuity and invention ; to cultivate in 
their minds a turn for speculation, and at the same time 
preserve their attention alive to the objects around 
them ; to awaken their sensibilities to the beauties of 
nature, and to inspire them with a relish for intellec- 
tual enjoyment — these form but a part of the business 
of education ; and yet the execution even of this part 
requires an acquaintance with the general principles of 
our nature which seldom falls to the share of those to 
whom the instruction of youth is commonly entrusted.'* 
In the same direction are the following remarks : — 
** The power of furnishing the mind, of enlarging and 



302 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 

improving it, can obviously belong only to a master 
who can command the stores of a well-cultivated mind, 
and has also learned the art of using them. It is such a 
one alone who can rise above the mere mechanism of 
teaching — can call forth all the latent faculties of his 
pupils, and raise them towards the level of his own. 
Such a one will see in the world around him some of 
the most important subjects on which to found his in- 
struction, and will lead the young mind to test, by the 
true spirit of Christianity, its various acts, responsi- 
bilities, and duties. He will not overlook the import- 
ance of raising and regulating the character, through 
a due cultivation and development of the moral sen- 
timents, and a watchful superintendence over the 
habits and conduct. To this end he will do what, in 
the generally over-anxious desire to convey a mere 
knowledge of material facts, is too often omitted — he 
will open the stores of high and generous examples 
which history contains, to warm the mind of youth, to 
raise the thoughts of age, and to invite imitation. The 
effect of not familiarizing the mind of the young with 
instances of this kind, inspiring a sympathy with 
generous natures, awakening admiration for acts of 
magnanimity and self-sacrifice, and kindling a love of 
country, is to produce a distrust of the existence of any 
such motives, and therefore to obstruct and discourage 
in many ways the cause of public improvement." 

"The domain of imagination, through an acquaint- 
ance with our best poetry, is far too little cultivated in 
the ordinary day schools. It is almost entirely ne- 
glected. There can be no valid reason for overlooking 
so powerful an auxiliary in the work of raising the mind 



INSPECTORS. 303 

and mending the heart. Selected passages of some 
poetry and of the best prose might be committed to 
memory in every common school ; and the sources of 
the most refined pleasure thus opened to the mind of 
youth -would most probably yield support and refresh- 
ment to a whole life of temptation and toil. A sense 
of what is beautiful in taste, correct in thought and 
feeling, and exalted in conduct, might thence be dif- 
fused more widely, and the sentiments thus worked into 
the national mind would result no less in a just appre- 
ciation of the literature and institutions of the country 
than in a proper self-esteem. A schoolmaster who 
rightly estimates his power of benefiting the community 
will not throw away this instrument of its welfare. In 
every common school, passages copied into a book 
during the school hours might be learnt by heart at 
home." 

He thus describes a class in a school inspected in 
1842 : — " Their reading lessons were so conducted as 
to become a valuable intellectual exercise. If any in- 
accuracy arises, or any error in pronunciation, accent, 
or emphasis, the sentence is read again by the boy 
making the fault until it is corrected. An effort is 
thence induced to be accurate in the first instance. 
The meaning of the sentence is then required in their 
own language; the etymology of every compound word ; 
various derivatives of the same root ; the various mean- 
ings of the same word ; the mode of its use in different 
senses ; the words or clauses in a sentence, in opposition 
to or in connection with each other ; finally, its gov- 
ernment and the examples it affords of the rules of 
grammar and composition. A dozen pages gone 



304 SYSTEMS OB* EDUCATION. 

througli in tMs manner, slowly and carefully, will 
have done much towards giving a knowledge of 
language ; while the mental effort required will have 
raised and strengthened the faculties. The advantage 
of this kind of training was shown by these boys in 
their writing exercise." He thus speaks of a class in 
another school : — " In the second class the first lessons 
are given on etymology." 



INDEX. 



Abbott ; on reproof, 188 ; on character, 197 ; moral revie-w, 229. 

-SIsop's Fables a reading book, 36, 47, 

Alphabet ; plain card, 45 ; on teaching tne, 61 ; Bell's plan, 172 ; 

kindergarten, 159. 
Amateurs and helpers, 262. 
Analysis and synthesis, 280, 
Apt to teach, 206, 287, 
Arnold on chiding hastily. 7 . 
Aristotle on emulation, 184. 
Arithmetic; early lessons, 53, 84; Pestalozzian, 145; Dunning 

on, 146; Mayo, 148; De Morgan, 148; kindergarten, 159; 

Lancaster, 193 ; Grant and Saturday Review^ 274, 
Ascham's schoolmaster, 4. 
Attention, 33, 5Q, 166, 271. 
Authority in moral training, 29, 122. 130, 

Eell's monitorial system, 162. 

Books, 14, 36, 45, 61, 68, 173, 191, 208. 

Brougham, Lord, 263. 

Gaughie, prince of infant teachers, 212. 
Caxton, 2. 

Cecil on corporal punishment, 5, 
Central Society and its work, 264, 

X 



306 INDEX. 

Chadwick on Grant, 270. 

Character a growth, 197. 

Chaucer, 2. 

Child-nature, 26, 28, 79, 122, IS/), 224, 299, 

Child, necessity of exertion, 69, 166, 168. 

Children must be employed, 156. 272. 

Cicero, 8, 11. 

Classical learning and its advantages, 39. 

Classification in school, 177, 192, 194. 

Colet founds St. Paul's School, 3. 

Collective teaching, 261, 290, 298. 

Colour and form, 141, 160. 

Comenius, 13. 

Composition, 38, 47. 

Conscience, culture of, 115. 

Coraewaile introduces English into schools, 1. 

Corporal punishment, 6, 8, dl, 189, 286. 

Curiosity, 33. 

Currie; action, 221; symnatliy of numbers, 235. 

Daily News on praise and blame J* 

Development in education, 90, 97, f^9, lu2, 2*25. 

Devices in school work, 170. 

Discipline, 6, 18, 29, 62, 80, 120, 182, ly(>, 220, 28tf. 

Discipline of natural consequences, 32, 62, 128. 

Distinction, love of, 201. 

Doddridge, pictures in early training, 14. 

Drawing, 49, 159. 

Dunning, 96, 116, 122 

Edgeworths, father and daughter, 48. 

Education ; according to bias, 28, 40, 123 ; general, not special, 
41, 72, 165 ; should be religious, 88, 104, 217, 266 ; principles, 
88 ; should be organic, 89 ; harmonious, 91 ; must have unity, 
104 ; essential conditions, 166 ; golden rule in, 167 ; relation 
to citizen, 265. 
ducation, tendency to lose ground in, 93 ; want of faith in, 285. 



INDEX. 307 

Educational Department and its work, 276, 

Educational systems, tests applied to, 103, 163. 

English first taught ia schools, 1. 

Elementary school, 162 ; its function moral, 214. 

Emulation ; a powerful agent, 184 ; class, 202. 

Enthusiasm necessary, 205. 

Example stronger than precept, 119. 

Experience the starting-point in moral culture, 118. 

ExpositioQ of reading lesson, 208, 303. 

Evil should never be suggested, 27. 

Fear in education, 18, 31, 63, 225. 

Feelings, culture of, 113. 

Fellenberg on pubKc opinion, 198. 

Form and colour, 141 ; form, 148 ; kindergarten, 169, 

French ; on learning, 38, 46. 

Frobel's kindergarten, 154. 

Geography, 47. 

Gill, Alexander, 4. 

Glasgow Educational Society, 213. 

God, child's first notions of, 106. 

Grade schools ; a system of wanted, 297 

Graded schools, 238. 

Graduation of lessons, 100, 142, 192. 

Grammar and composition, 38, 46, 62. 

Grant, Horace, 270. 

Guessing, ludicrous instances, 257. 

History; a home subject, 47 ; how taught, 61. 
Home and Colonial School Society, 93, 

Imitation a strong agent, 119. 

Infant culture, 48, 83, 100, 135, 148, 273. 

Infant school organization, 97. 

Infant's schools; OberUn, 76; WUderspin, 77; Mayo's, 85; 

Home and Colonial, 93 ; kindergarten, 154. 
Inspectors of schools ; their reports, 282, 



308 INDEX. 

Intellectual system established, 202. 
Interrogation and explanation, 207. 
Intuition, 66, 135. 
Invention, 60, 158. 

Kindergarten system ; anticipated, 48 ; Frobel's, 154. 
Knowledge, first through, the senses, 66. 
Knox's system, 38. 

Lancaster's monitorial system, 189. 

Langlande's Piers Plowman, 2. 

Langler's phonic method books, 52. 

Language; an instrument of culture, 16; pupils' ignorance of, 
59 ; Pestalozzi's practice, 73 ; ideas before words, 83 ; object 
lessons, 136 ; exposition of, 208 ; word-getting, 257 ; Tremen- 
heere on exposition, 203. 

Latin, how to be learnt, 12, 45. 

Learning; objects of, 7, 33; thorough and familiar, 10, 57, 171; 
sham leads to immorality, 17 ; relation to character, 21 ; not 
made irksome, 34, 50; not to be a game, 34, 41; no false 
associations with, 56 ; definite lessons, 170 ; relation to teach- 
ing, 240. 

Learning, revival of, 3. 

Lessors; short, 57, 271 ; on form and colour, 141; on objects, 
71, 86, 136 ; on animals, 139; connection in, 58, 

Liberty, not coercion, 90. 

Little things in obedience, 201. 

Locke, John, 19, 83, 221. 

Logical faculty, when cultivated, 247. 

Long quoted, 183, 232. 

Love of approbation, 132. 

Managers of schools, how treated, 123. 
Master ; duties, 180 ; qualifications, 204. 
Mayos, 64, 85, 96, 116, 119, 135, 141. 
Memory, 7, 43, 242. 



INDEX 309 

Mental faculties, all to be trained, 72, 269, 299. 

Method ; importance, 42 ; with young children, 69 ; of discovery, 

241 ; outlines first, 247 ; picturing out, 249 ; training out, 255 ; 

induction, 260 ; in education, 269 ; synthesis, 277. 
Milton's views on education, 14. 
Mind, knowledge of, necessary, 204, 265, 271, 298. 
Mistakes ; how corrected, 8 ; not to be ridiculed, 33. 
Monitorial system ; Bell's, 162 ; Lancaster's, 189. 
Monitors; Comenius, 14; Bell, 175; Lancaster, 195, 
Moral training; its position, 23 ; barriers, 25 ; discipline, 62, 111 ; 

chief aim, 80 ; moral intelligence, 74 ; nature, 81, 89 ; moral 

diseases, 89, 127; practice, not precept, 29; mistakes, 114; 

emotions of self, 116 ; moral instruction, 117 ; conditions, 223 ; 

playground and moral review, 228 ; inseparable from religious, 

190, 215. 
Moseley's reports, 283. 

National system of education first mooted, 275. 
Natural consequences of actions, 32, 62, 187. 
Necker on a storm of words, 188. 
Normal college first established by Stow, 213. 

Obedience, 63 ; in little things, 201. 

Object lessons, 71, 86, 136, 292. 

Obstinacy, 32, 64, 128, 130. 

Offences and ofienders, 185. 

Ogle on punishments, 125. 

Oral teaching, 208, 238, 261, 290, 298. 

Order of merit, 201. 

Organization ; grammar school, 47 ; infant schools, 97 ', Bell'B 

plans, 174 ; Lancaster's, 193 ; graded school, 238 ; Battersea, 

277 ; tripartite, 294. 
Overwork is pernicious, 272. 
Owen on infant training, 76. 

Pain, its use in moral training, 30. 
Palmerston on good writing, 174. 



310 INDEX 

Penmansliip, 37, 174. 

Pestalozzi, 14, 16, 48, 54, 5Q, 64, 86 300. 

Phonic method of learning to read, 51, 279. 

Physical education, 22, 79. 

Pictures ; in early training, 49 ; in books, 14 ; in religious in- 
struction, 108. 

Picturing out, 14, 249. 

Pillans' Letters, 203. 

Pioneers in education, 1. 

Plagiarism prevented, 47. 

Plato, 7, 44. 

Playground, 80, 82, 228. 

Poetry, 62 302. 

Practice must be frequent, 195. 

Praise, 32, 132, 184. 

Precept and practice, 29, 74, 76, 81, 220. 

Precept and example, 81. 

Principles and plans, 170. 

Province of the school, 163, 190, 

Public opinion in school, 186, 198, 231. 

Punishment ; discrimination between offences, 6 ; depriving of 
food, 25; seldom in a good school, 124; prevention, 125; 
spirit of, 127 ; by natural consequences, 128 ; design, 186 ; 
Moseley on, 286. 

Quintilian, 44, 162. 

Eeading, 18, 34, 36, 44, 61, 161, 172, 192, 203, 208. 

Eedgrave on colour, 141. 

Eegisters; paidometer, 181 ; of offences, 186 

Reid on public opinion, 233. 

lleHgious education, 75, 104, 106, 163 218, 266, 284. 

Eepetition, 171. 

Eeproof, 187. 

Eestraint, 91, 226. 

Eewards, 32, 132. 

Eeynolds on moral instruction, 119. 

Eichter on toys, 49. 



INDEX. 311 

Eote teaching a failure, 203. 

Saturday Review quoted, 34, 274. 

Sceptical habit formed, 245. 

School ; work often fruitless, 67 ; a happy place, 80 ; a micro- 
cosm, 82 ; method tends to routine, 93 ; province, 163 ; moral 
function, 214. 

School-keeping an art, 179. 

School life periods, 100, 191. 

Schoolmaster, 263. 

Scripture prints, 168; instruction, 105; how used, 266. 

Self-help, 167. 

Senses in education, 66, 68, 83, 88, 135, 268, 273, 278. 

Shame, the aim of punishment, 30. 

Shuttle worth, 275. 

Simple to complex, 70. 

Siz^ and weight, 145. 

Spectator used in teaching English, 47. 

Spelling to follow reading, 73. 

Stewart, Dugald, on educating the whole man, 299, 

Stow, David, 14, 83, 96, 210, 

Sugden on Stow's system, 262. 

Syllabification, Bell's plan, 173. 

Sympathy; moulds character, 120; easily excited, 129; of 
numbers, 230. 

Synthetic method, 277, 

Taylor, Isaac, 134. 

Tate's Arithmetic, 5Q. 

Teacher; choice of, 21 ; confess ignorance, S4; few skilful, 93 ; 

weight of character, 125 ; not slave to routine, 170 ; influence, 

183; qualifications, 204; should teach, 237; example, 280; 

skilful, 287. 
Teaching; method, 83; tests, 167; requires enthusiasm, 190; 

outlines first, 247 ; should be studied, 288 ; inefficient, 292. 
Tegetmeier on lessons on animals, 139. 
Temptation as a moral agent, 226. 
Things before words, 16, 69, 83, 88. 



/V 



312 INDEX. 

Thorough learning, 171. 
Threats, 128. 
Training system, 210. 

Training and teaching, 213 ; training out, 254. 
Tremenheere's reports, 296. 
Trial by jury, 186. 
. Tripartite organization, 294. 

Understanding and memory, 242. 
Understanding essential to learning, 10. 

Ward anticipated Pestalozzi, 56, 146. 

Whitbread attempts to obtain aid to education, 276. 

Wilderspin, 77, 96. 

Will, training of, 63, 199. 

Wits, quick and hard, 9. 

Wolsey's instructions to masters, 3. 

Wood's Intellectual System, 202. 

Words pictured, 251 ; word-getting, 258. 

Writing, 37, 169, 170, 174. 

Wykeham's school at Winchester, 2. 

Wyse on educational reform, 265. 



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